At night
by HelloDenmark
Summary: The contract still stands, but how much further? Natsume is dying trying to keep it from failing, but who can stand against Persona? The final battle will be decided...
1. The mission

**At Night**

_They are all 16 years old. Mikan and Natsume are together, and so are Ruka and Hotaru. _

Mikan sat at her window and glanced over towards the Northern-Forest, she had waited for Natsume to appear for 3 hours. Now it was 2 am, and he still hadn't shown himself. She was starting to get worried, more worried than she was in the start.

**FLASHBACK:**

"Natsume? What's wrong?" Mikan asked Natsume. She had just found him sitting on his bed with his head in his hands.

"Mikan!" Natsume said shocked and looked up, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh, sorry. The door was open. What's wrong?" She asked as she slipped inside and sat beside him.

"…Nothing. …How was your day?"

"I won't let you talk your way out of this Natsume."

"What? I'm not-"

"Natsume just stop that and tell me what happened!"

Natsume looked at Mikan, probably trying to find out if he was going to tell her or not.

"Fine. I'm going on a mission tonight…"

"What! But you haven't healed from your last mission yet! That's outrageous! If they keep doing this you'll end up d…" Mikan couldn't get herself to say the last word.

"Yeah I know. If they keep this up I'll end up dying, but there's nothing I can do about it. You know what's at stake if I don't… Do you need a reminder? Trust me I remind myself every day. Yuichi, Ruka, Aoi, the most of our classmates and you, Mikan. I can't loose any of you. I just can't! And you know it… I have to do this." Natsume said as he looked down at his hands, in the end he just put his hands over his face and laid down on his back.

"I know… I just wish there was no need for you to sacrifice yourself for our sake…" Mikan laid down beside Natsume and pulled his hands off his face, "I love you Natsume and I will wait for you to come back tonight. Just promise me you're going to be all right… Please…"

"I can't, but I promise you that I will drag my sorry ass back here. Okay?" He said with a smirk.

"Natsume, this is no time for jokes!"

"I know." Natsume said as he pulled Mikan down on top of him and started kissing her, when they broke the kiss to get air Natsume whispered into Mikan's ear: "I love you too polka-dots, I always will."

"What time is it Mikan?"

"It's eleven…"

"I need to go now… See you, Mikan." Natsume went out the door.

"…Natsume. Natsume wait!" Mikan shouted as she ran out the door, she flung onto Natsume and started kissing him passionately. She had tears in her eyes, "Come back safely."

"You know I will, I always do." Natsume gave her a rare smile, "I need to go Mikan, sorry. I'll come back as soon as I can, okay?"

"Yes, come back to me."

"See you Mikan."

**END OF FLASHBACK.**

Once again Mikan glanced over towards the Northern-Forest, still no sign of Natsume.

"Natsume, please be alright…"

Suddenly someone knocked on the door; Mikan went over to open it, and there stood Koko.

"Koko, what's up?"

"I just wanted to say that I heard Natsume's thoughts a little while ago. He should be back soon."

"What! What did he think?"

"Umm, something like: Fucking mission, Fucking Persona. What the hell were you thinking you bastard. Did you hope that I would die? Well think again you son of a bitch… He just went on grumbling like that to himself."

"That does sound like Natsume. Do you know if he was hurt?"

"No, but you know Natsume. Even if he was hurt he would probably just ignore it and keep going without thinking about it."

"Yeah, I know… That idiot." Mikan said as she smiled a sad smile.

"Huh?" Koko said as he made big eyes.

"Koko?"

"Mikan hurry I… I just lost Natsume. The Northern-Forest. Come on." Koko said shocked, that had never happened before.

Mikan's face starred in disbelief at Koko, before she pulled on her coat and ran out of the door. Koko followed soon behind her.

"It's just up ahead!" Koko yelled to Mikan.

Mikan stopped suddenly causing Koko to bump into her, before them laid Natsume. He was unconscious and had multiple cuts all over his body, plus blood running down the side of his face.

"Natsume… Natsume!" Mikan said at first frozen but then ran over and sat beside Natsume. She started shaking him by the shoulders and kept yelling his name over and over.

"Natsume!" Mikan had tears in her eyes. She leaned down towards Natsume and gently pressed her mouth against his, kissing him more and more. Waiting for a sign of life, waiting for his lips to make the same movement as they always did, she kept kissing him hoping he would wake up.

"Mi…kan…" Natsume whispered as he opened his ruby eyes and looked at them.

"Natsume. Thank God! Are you okay?" Mikan looked worriedly at Natsume.

"As you can see… I am perfectly healthy."

"No, jokes! Lets get you inside. Umm, Koko how are we going to do that?"

"If you can take his arms then I can take his legs."

"Like hell you are! Help me up. Cough" Natsume said as he pushed himself up from the ground.

"Are you sure? You don't seem fit enough to-"

_Koko help me up now or I swear in gonna…_ - Natsume thought.

Natsume held out his hands, Koko took them and pulled him to his feet. He swayed and was about to fall down again if Koko hadn't caught him and pulled his arm around his shoulder. Mikan put Natsume's other arm against her shoulder and they started walking towards the academy.

They had just come inside the hall when Natsume started coughing, just dry coughs, and no blood.

When he was done Koko asked: "Why do you have to do this Natsume?"

"Why? I don't even remember… It all seems so meaningless right now…" Natsume said while he panted.

"You remember Natsume, you have to, and it's what keeps you going. Just repeating the names of the people you save by doing these missions that what gets you through them. Would you like me to do it for you this time? Repeat all the innocent lives you spare by doing this? Hotaru, Ruka, Pres., Permy, Nonoko, Anna, Yoichi, Aoi, Koko and me… Don't ever say it's meaningless, you know it's not." Mikan said.

"…I know."

"We're here." Koko said. Mikan opened the door.

"My, my Natsume you don't look so good. What happened?" A voice said from the corner. Persona stepped out of the shadows and walked towards them stopping only one meter from them. Natsume took his hands off Koko and Mikan's shoulders.

"I don't know, what do you think happened to me after you left me in there?" Natsume said as he took a little step forward.

"No need to be cocky, it would be terrible if something happened to the newest member of your gang wouldn't it?" Persona said as he took a step towards Koko.

"Don't touch him! I have the thing you sent me in there for right here," Natsume took a package out of his pocket and threw it at Persona. "Now get the hell out of my room!"

"How dare you speak to me like that you insolent like brat!" Persona said as he threw a punch at Natsume. Natsume didn't have the strength to evade so he was sent to the floor gasping after air. "You can't decide what I can do and what I can't do." Persona took another step towards Koko.

"We had… a deal Persona… don't you dare lay… a hand on any of them…" Natsume threatened between gasps.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Persona looked back at Natsume before extending his hand towards Koko. They both gasped I surprise when a wall of fire roared between them.

"Natsume! …If you weren't so beat up right now I would punish you, but since I'm a fair man I'll wait until tomorrow. My office 8 pm! Be there or else!" Persona said as he turned around and jumped through the window.

Natsume absorbed his fire again.

"Natsume, thank you…" Koko said still shocked by what had happened.

Suddenly Natsume rolled over and began coughing. Getting more and more violent until his body shook with exhaustion.

Finally he stopped; there was blood on his hand and around his mouth. Natsume rolled onto his back to get his much needed air; he was struggling with each breath. The only thing he could focus on was breathing. It looked like he was in so much pain. But even though it was tearing him up from the inside, he knew he couldn't stop.

"You shouldn't have used your Alice Natsume! You knew this was going to happen if you did! Natsume hang on, okay? You're going to be okay! Were are your pills?" Mikan asked worriedly as she looked over at Natsume.

"…Nightstand…" Natsume whispered after a little time. His voice was strained with the amount of pain he was in.

Mikan ran over to the nightstand and opened the drawer; she took a bottle out and poured 2 pills in her hands. Then she ran over and knelt beside Natsume.

"Are you ready?" Mikan asked Natsume, who opened his mouth slightly so that she could give him the pills. He swallowed them and waited for them to work.

"Your gonna be okay Natsume, do you hear me? You're going to be fine. You always are, right? Natsume, you're gonna… You're… Gonna be…" Mikan tried to say comforting things, but maybe most trying to reassure herself that he was going to live. She just ended up crying.

"Mikan, don't cry, I'm fine…" Natsume reassured her as he lifted his hand and wiped away her tears.

"No, you're not fine…" Mikan couldn't stop crying.

"Mikan lets get him up on the bed so that we can take care of his wounds." Koko, who until now had just stood in the corner, said.

"Yeah, come on."

Some miraculous way they got Natsume up on the bed. He was still coughing from time to time, but other than that he looked a little better. He wasn't nearly as pale as he was a little while ago. Mikan and Koko took off his bloodied shirt so that they could tend to his wounds.

While they tended his wounds Natsume laid with closed eyes, the only thing that indicated that he wasn't sleeping or unconscious was the occasional flinch, scowl or cough when it hurt too much. But sometime in the middle of treating him he stopped and his head slumped to one side.

"Do you think he's sleeping, or unconscious?" Koko asked Mikan.

"Someplace in the middle I think. Probably most unconscious, he is a very light sleeper. He would have woken by now if he were sleeping." Mikan answered as she washed the blood off Natsume's face. She looked down at her boyfriend, he had an angel-like face when he slept and didn't have blood on him. Nowadays it was a rare sight to look at him in the night without blood on his face. He was beginning to cough up blood every night, …no matter how many times she saw it she couldn't help but to be equally shocked each time. It wasn't easy seeing the one you loved hurt so much and know that you're partly to blame for it. But she also knew that Natsume needed her to be there, to love him, help him, smile for him and be a reason for him to keep going.

"What's going on Mikan? What's wrong with Natsume? Why does he do this? What does Persona want with Natsume? …With me?" Koko asked Mikan with pleading eyes.

"Don't you already know it all? Haven't you read Natsume's mind?"

"No. Natsume is always very careful when he's around me, and when I do read it he usually thinks nasty things to me. After some time I just stopped." He sighed.

"Well I don't know if Natsume wants you to know, but I guess when your already involved like this I might as well tell you. Well here it goes. Natsume has the forth type of Alice, lets start with that. With his missions, his body's condition just gets worse and worse."

"Then why doesn't he just stop, refuse to do it?"

"He can't stop, Persona has every one of us hostage. If Natsume doesn't do what he says, Persona punishes someone dear to him. That's only happened once…" Mikan said as she starred into space, recalling memories.

"What happened Mikan?"

"Persona was furious, I had convinced Natsume to try and stop. It was a year ago. At first Persona just threatened and tortured Natsume, but Natsume has lived with pain his whole life so he didn't back down. Persona knew he had to use other methods, so he targeted me. He gave me poison, and waited for Natsume to come back to his room. When he did, Natsume hurried to my side. Persona had the antidote and he only wanted to give it to him was if he promised to do everything he told him. So they made a deal Natsume would do everything Persona said, and Persona would keep his hands off his friends and give me the antidote. It has been like that ever since and after that Natsume had to do what Persona said, Persona just gave him more and more dangerous missions. The balance of the deal is hanging on a strand of hair, which could break at any moment. Natsume is doing everything he can to keep it from breaking, but it is just a matter of time before Persona finds a way to break it and keep Natsume as his servant. Natsume's lifespan is soon used, and Persona knows that all too well, he wants to use Natsume for as much as possible before he dies. Natsume's worn out, he does nothing but sleep at school because he coughs up blood at night, he's in so much pain that he can't sleep and when he finally falls into an unconscious-like sleep he only gets a couple of hours… It's not fair!" Mikan explained with tears running down her face.

"Isn't there anything we can do for him?" Koko asked desperately.

Mikan just shakes her head and says: "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. Not even doctors can do anything for him. Everyday counts… Natsume is struggling but I'm afraid it's not enough anymore… He's gonna… Koko he's gonna die…!" Mikan broke down crying, Koko held her tight as she cried her eyes out.

The light shone through the windows waking Natsume from his unconscious state. His body hurt everywhere, and he let out a few raspy coughs. Beside him laid Mikan, there were traces of tears on her face. He hated making her cry, but there was nothing he could do about it, just keeping himself alive was hard enough.

He was supposed to meet Persona at 8 pm, for his punishment. What could it be this time? Persona's Alice? Torture? He had been through that already…

Natsume ran his hand up and down Mikan's face, savouring the moment. He bent his head and kissed her forehead. Mikan stirred and opened her hazel eyes still clouded by sleep and tears.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you…" Natsume said as he embraced her. His voice was still hoarse from last night.

"Mm… Good morning, how are you doing?" Mikan asked as she snuggled in towards him.

"Honestly I feel like crap. But it's still better than yesterday…" Natsume said muffling a cough. He had given up trying to lie to her about his condition; it just made her worry more.

"I can imagine that. You're not as pale as you were yesterday, you are going to stay home from school today." Mikan noted.

"Do I have a say in this" Natsume asked grinningly.

"Of course not. You weren't actually thinking about going to school were you?"

"Nope, wasn't even considering it."

"Exactly, you're just going to lay in your bed the whole day."

"Well not the whole day…" Natsume whispered in her hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you forgotten? I have a fantastic appointment today at 8 pm, with a very loving man. …Just kidding." Natsume said as he grasped her tighter.

"…Are you going to be okay?" Mikan asked anxiously.

"Of course I am, he's not going to kill me. I'm too important… Will you be waiting for me when I get back?"

"Of course I will. How could you even ask?"

"Just checking." Natsume chuckled.

"What time is it?"

"6:30, you have to get ready for school." Natsume let go of his embrace.

"Already? Natsume will you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Please go to the hospital, to get your wounds looked at. It was only first-aid me and Koko did, you need more treatment." Mikan said pleadingly as she rose from the bed.

"Will it make you worry less?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

"I'll see you Natsume, I need to go know."

"Wait." Natsume said as he got out of bed swaying dangerously but kept his footing. He went over to Mikan and kissed her.

"See you Natsume, I'll come over after school. Remember to go to the hospital!" With that Mikan left for school.

"Come in." Persona's voice could be heard from inside the room. Natsume went inside.

"Ahh, Natsume. How lovely of you to come, right on time." Persona said with a smirk on his face, as if it was all just a game to him.

Much to Natsume's surprise Koko stood in the corner of the room. Natsume paled a little, thinking Persona had hired him or something like that.

"…What's he doing here?" Natsume asked Persona.

"Him? Don't worry he's only here to observe, nothing more. Did you really think I was going to break our deal? I'm enjoying it! Well to the real reason you are here." Persona said as he placed a pile in front of him, "this little thing hasn't been tested yet but I assure you it's risk-free. It's going to be used as a new interrogation method. You just have to take it and the effects will wore off after 10 minutes or so. …Remember our deal Natsume, you have to do everything I ask you to."

Natsume extended his hand and picked up the pill, before he took it he sent thoughts to Koko:

'Koko, no matter what happens don't do anything. That's just what he wants, a reason to break the deal. Please, don't do anything! I'm sure I'll be fine in 10 minutes… He won't just kill me I'm too useful. Do you understand? If you do anything, then everything that I've done the last year has gone to waste. He'll take Mikan… Please I beg you Koko, please don't do anything…!'

Koko nodded in response.

The effects were instant. One second Natsume took the pill, the next his knees buckled as he grunted and he was on the ground. Curling up into a ball as he shut his eyes, gritting his teeth and breathed heavily. The only thought that was in his head was a scream: I hurt! It felt as though he was being stabbed everywhere over and over again. He was so cold, so cold…

Koko heard every thought that ran through Natsume's head, he had never heard anything like that before no words could describe it except maybe these: cries, pleads that it would stop, hatred towards Persona, love towards Mikan, and all the reasons why he was doing this… Every name of the people he saved rang through his head constantly like he was trying to cling to something to survive and not back down. Because he knew it very well, if he backed down then everything was lost. If he backed down then there was no one to stop Persona from hurting the ones he cared about the most… He couldn't give in, and he couldn't die… There was nothing else he could do but endure the pain and hope for the best…

A tear slipped down Koko's cheek as he stared at Natsume, who had cold sweat running down the side of his face. It was so unfair. He started hating Persona more and more, he almost punched Persona when he remembered what Natsume had said, and restrained himself. His insides were bubbling with anger.

"Looks like the 10 minutes have gone by. Well that was fun! Don't you think?" Persona asked as he kneeled down beside the panting Natsume.

"Well Natsume, pull back the deal or else you're gonna get another one," Persona said with a smile on his face, "Break the deal Natsume! You know you want to. Think about it that was very painful wasn't it? The only thing that you have to do to never feel this kind of pain again is to just say a couple of words: I break the deal. That very easy isn't it? Why are you looking at me with those eyes Natsume? They're kind of scary. Come on say something!"

"I refuse!" His voice shook a little as he said it, but I didn't matter, his eyes had enough determination in them to overrule his voice.

"Well you're asking for it. I just hope your answer will be a little different next time." Persona forcefully put another pill into Natsume's mouth, and made him swallow. The pain soon hit Natsume as he curled up again, this time Persona carried him to the couch and put him on it.

"I refuse."

"…I refuse"

"…I refuse…"

"…I …Refuse…"

"…I… …Refuse…" Natsume whispered, trying to get control of his breathing after the last pill.

"Come on! I don't have all day! 4 words, it's not that difficult! Just say it! Give me your useless little friends! Say it!"

"…I …Refuse…" Natsume answered a little louder.

"Damn it! I don't have any more pills! Why the hell do you have to be so pain resistant! This isn't getting me anywhere!" Persona shouted at Natsume, and then looked over at Koko. "You there! Take him and get out off here! Don't worry I'll get you to break it next time Natsume! Just wait!"

Koko hurried over and helped Natsume up. Natsume's whole body was shaking, he was breathing heavily and was extremely pale, as pale as a sheet…

"Are we going to your room?" Koko asked Natsume.

Natsume shakes his head and whispers: "we're… Going to Mikan's…"


	2. The contract

They knocked on the door and stepped in. Mikan was quickly up on her feet and hugged Natsume.

"What happened…? You're shaking…" Mikan asked, but was quickly cut off by Koko.

"Lets just get him to bed. I'll tell you what happened."

"…Of course, you're exhausted. Come on." Mikan said as she pulled him towards the bed. Natsume just laid down with all his clothes on and pulled the comforter up over his nose. He curled up on his side, trying somehow to keep warm, protect and comfort himself. Natsume soon stopped shaking and fell asleep holding Mikan's hand.

"What happened Koko? What did Persona do to him?"

"I… I couldn't do anything Mikan, Natsume ordered me not to…"

"It's okay Koko, I think Natsume is happy that you didn't do anything. That would probably just make matters worse…"

"But… I just stood there watching while he…"

"Koko, tell me what happened."

"He said he needed to have some interrogation-pills tested… That they would wear off after 10 minutes. He forced Natsume to take one and… He was in so much pain Mikan… I could hear his thoughts and they were screaming… Screaming for it to stop… But even then he still remembered why he was there, who he saved by doing it… You were in his mind all the time Mikan; he wanted to be with you so badly… And then when it finally stopped Persona gave him the choice to either break the deal or get another pill. Natsume answered: I refuse. He answered it so many times, and he just kept getting another pill and another and another… In the end Persona didn't have any more pills, so he had to let us go… But he said to Natsume that he would get him to break the deal next time…"

"…I understand. Koko you did the right thing. If you had done anything then Natsume would have protected you from Persona by using his Alice, which would have hurt him even more… And after that the deal, that already is a hairsbreadth from breaking, would have broken completely. Thank you Koko… You should go to your room and sleep, you aren't looking to good yourself. I'll watch over Natsume."

"Okay, see you tomorrow…" Koko said as he walked out of the door. He did feel quite tired now that he thought about it.

Mikan watched the door close and waited for some seconds before she sat down beside her beloved. She started stoking his hair.

What did you do to someone, to make you deserve this fate Natsume? Why do you have to hurt so much? What is wrong with this academy? Isn't there anything I can do to help you? You're drenched in cold sweat …you have a fever. I should get a cold cloth.

Mikan gently pulled her hand out of Natsume's and went into the bathroom to soak a cloth. She put it on his forehead, and then turned around to go get her nightgown on. A hand grabbed her hand.

"…Don't go." Natsume said desperately behind her.

Mikan turned around and gave him a kiss. "I'm only going to change clothes, I'll be back in a minute I promise."

Natsume reluctantly let go of her hand and followed her with his eyes as she went to the drawer, pulled out her nightgown and then went to the bathroom. When she came back, she crawled into the bed beside Natsume.

"Mikan." He didn't need to say anymore, all of his feelings were in that one word. He embraced her as if he would never let go.

"You're still shaking. …Shh, It's okay I'm here. I won't leave you. Never." Mikan kept repeating 'I'm here' until he stopped shaking and gradually relaxed in her arms.

Just as they were about to go to sleep Natsume went into a coughing fit.

"Please no… Not now…" Mikan pleaded and handed Natsume a tissue, which was soon stained with Natsume's precious blood. Mikan hated it. …Finally it stopped and Natsume looked like he was about to faint at any moment, but even so he still opened the drawer, pulled out some pills and swallowed them.

"…I'm gonna sleep." Natsume said as he collapsed on the pillows and fell into a semi-conscious state instantly.

"I love you, Natsume…" Mikan said drowsily, she soon fell asleep.

Natsume woke up around noon he hurt everywhere. Mikan was in school, apparently didn't want to wake him, and he was glad she didn't. He went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He looked like crap, he was full of bandage, there was blood around with mouth and his face was pale. It can't get any worse than that. He took off his clothes and went into the shower. When he was done he put on his dirty clothes and went to his room to get a new set. Just as he was done changing someone knocked on the door, Natsume went over to open silently hoping it wasn't Persona. Luckily for him it wasn't.

Outside stood Narumi. "Hello Natsume."

"What are you doing here?" Natsume asked impatiently and let him in.

"What are you talking about? I always keep track of all my cute students, and someone hasn't been there for 2 days." Narumi said disgustingly as he sat down on Natsume's bed.

"I was sleeping, and instead of doing it in your class I figured I could just do it at home."

"Ha ha, very funny. As it so happens Mikan's worried about you, so I managed to squeeze information out of her. I almost know everything now, no use in hiding it Natsume."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Natsume said after he coughed into his sleeve.

"You can't keep this up for much longer Natsume."

"I know. But I can try." Natsume coughed as he leaned against the door.

"Are you okay Natsume? I'm worried…" Narumi asked Natsume.

"I'll be fine in a couple of days, if that idiot-teacher leaves me alone." Natsume said with a grin on his face, however it was soon wiped off Natsume's face as he went into a coughing fit.

"Natsume! …Should I call the hospital?"

"…No don't… do that… they can't do anything… it'll pass." Natsume said breathless.

Natsume went into the bathroom and poured himself a glass of water, then went out to Narumi again and leaned against the wall.

"What do you think I should do? Since you're clearly against what I'm doing now." Natsume asked Narumi.

"I… I think you and Mikan should run away from the academy Natsume. Take the warp hole and go to the outside world. If there is anyone that can protect Mikan, it's you Natsume. I'll take care of the other students, make sure they don't end up like you."

"Do you really think that would work?"

"I don't know… But it's not as bad as staying here, is it?"

"I guess not… I need to talk to Mikan about it." Natsume muffled another cough.

"…You're really not doing well are you? I'll see if I can keep Persona busy the next few days. But if you're going to escape then it has to be soon."

"Thanks, …Narumi." Natsume whispered as he dropped his glass and slid down the wall.

"Natsume!"

"I'm fine… just tired…" Natsume said faintly, and lost consciousness.

"…Idiot."

Narumi lifted Natsume up on the bed.

There, rest Natsume. You need it. There's sweat running down the side of his face. Why haven't I seen this before? Are you having a fever? …You're burning up, Natsume. I wish I could do more for you, but I don't see how, …luckily you have Mikan. Good night Natsume. You don't have to come to school tomorrow, I'll come up with an excuse.

Mikan walked along the corridor, making her way to Natsume's room cause she had already checked hers and he wasn't there. Man, he really knows how to make her worried. She didn't even bother knocking before she stormed into Natsume's room. He was sleeping on his king-size bed in the middle of the room.

"Found you." Mikan said smiling and sat down beside Natsume. "Natsume."

"Hmm… Mikan?"

"Morning sleepyhead. How are you doing?"

"I'm better. I've slept most of the day haven't I?" Natsume said drowsily.

"Yes you have. It's good for you. Your fever is almost gone know isn't it? You had a fever this morning."

"…Narumi came today. He wanted to talk to me because 'someone' told him 'something'"

"I… I don't what you're talking about…"

"Oh, yes you do. No running away from this Mikan. Just kidding, it's fine. He would have come anyway, that's just the way he is."

"You're right. What did he say?"

"He said that he wanted you and me to escape from the academy."

"What!"

"He wanted us to use the warp hole to escape to the outside world. He said it couldn't get any worse than it is now."

"Of course it can get worse! You could die!"

"I know. But don't you think we should give it a shot?"

"Of course we should give it a shot Natsume… But do you think that you can handle it?"

"If it's for us, then I can do anything. I love you."

"I know."

Natsume leaned over to kiss Mikan, Their lips playing with each other's. When they finally broke the kiss to get air, Mikan placed her hand on Natsume's forehead.

"You still have a high fever Natsume. You should rest some more."

"It's not that high. My Alice makes my body temperature higher than normal peoples, so I'm fine."

"I still think you should rest until tomorrow."

"Fine then. If it makes you happy."

"Oh, yeah. Before that you need to help me with my math homework, and how long has it been since last time you ate something?"

"The last time I ate? …Um, yesterday at noon I think. What math is it?"

"It's this question here!"

Natsume looked down at the paper Mikan was showing him, the question was: 20/5=. How stupid is she? "…Are you an idiot? Figure it out yourself."

"Meany."

"Lets go down and have dinner first. I'm starving." Natsume got out of the bed and headed towards the door, Mikan followed him to the cafeteria. They went into the line and waited for their food. Then they went over to the table that Ruka and Hotaru sat at.

"Natsume! Where were you? I've been so worried, but Mikan said you were fine." Ruka said.

"I just had a lot of things I needed to do. I am fine." Natsume replied after he put his food on the table and sat down.

"You're lying." Hotaru said and shot at him with her idiot gun. Of course Natsume dodged all of them.

"Not here. Come to my room after dinner." Natsume said and started eating.

"Can I come to?" Koko popped up and asked.

"Sure… But no one else."

Mikan put her hand on Natsume's forehead… He still had a fever. "How much are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know."

"Don't use all night. You need rest, you still have a fever."

"Do you ever stop worrying?"

"Only when you stop worrying me."

The five of them walked to Natsume's room after they were finished eating. Once everyone had found a place to sit, Natsume started telling them about the situation. It was a long story so they were first done around midnight.

"Why haven't you told us anything before?" Hotaru asked Natsume.

"Because, there wasn't a need for it."

"And how come there just suddenly was a need for it?"

"…I can't keep this up much longer. I can try, but chance's that I make it to graduation are slim. Then he'll come after you, probably."

"Can't Mikan steal your Alice?" Ruka asked, more worried about his friend's condition than the deal.

"No, she can't. We tried but because my Alice is the forth type it is directly connected to my life span. That means if she take's my Alice she takes my life. In the end she had to insert it into me again so that I wouldn't die."

"So when are you going to escape?" Koko asked Natsume and Mikan.

"Do you think we should escape?" Mikan asked Koko.

"Of course. If Natsume stays here he'll die and if only Natsume escapes then Persona will come after you, because of your stealing Alice."

"If we are going to escape then we need to do it soon. Persona is planning something." Mikan said to all of them, "will you help us?"

"Of course!" Ruka said.

"You don't even have to ask." Koko said.

"I don't see any other way." Hotaru said as she went over to hug Mikan.

"Natsume!" Persona's voice could be heard from outside.

"Fuck…" Natsume said, "Be quiet all of you."

"I know you're in there Natsume! Come down here at once!"

"…Bastard. Don't let yourselves be seen. I'm going down there." Natsume said and went to get his jacket.

"I won't let you go Natsume." Mikan said teary-eyed.

"Shh… I'll be back, before you know it. See you." Natsume kissed her and then went to open the window. "What do you want?"

"Come down here!"

"…Well since you ask so nicely." Natsume whispered and jumped out of his window. His room was on second floor.

"It's already been half an hour, I'm going out to look for him!" Mikan said for the sixth time.

"No Mikan stay here. He'll come back, he said he would." Ruka said and held Mikan back.

"But!"

"Mikan please stay here. If he doesn't come back in half an hour then we'll all go look for him."

"Fine. But I won't wait one second longer than that!"

"I know. I won't either."

Mikan waited impatiently for another 10 minutes or so.

"Was that a cough?" Koko asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I heard someone cough. It could be Natsume. Be quiet everyone."

"Cough!"

"It's closer."

They stared at the door as it opened. In came Natsume, he had a cut on his cheek and on his left hand.

"Are you all still here? I thought you left ages ago." Natsume said as he muffled a cough.

"Natsume!" Mikan flung her arms around him.

"Were you worried? I was only gone for half an hour or so."

"You had me worried sick! What did he want?"

"Nothing much."

"Tell me what happened."

"Just a sec. let me come in first."

"You're right, sorry."

Mikan let go of Natsume. He went inside and started to take his jacket off with just one hand, it didn't go so well so Mikan helped him. After that he went into the bathroom, washed his wound and put bandage around his hand, which was a much more serious wound than the one on his cheek.

"What happened Natsume?" Ruka asked.

"He just wanted to know if I knew why Narumi had been piling up Persona's work, meant to keep him busy. I answered: 'Nope, I have no idea why. Maybe you should ask him.' He got a little pissed and threw a couple of rocks at me. Then he came to the real reason why he called me down there. I have a mission in 3 days." Natsume explained and coughed.

"Then we have to get out of here before that." Mikan said.

"You got hit by rocks?" Hotaru asked, she wondered why she hadn't hit him with her idiot gun yet.

"No I dodged the rocks."

"Then how did you get those cuts?"

"Well that's a whole other story. He asked me, again, if I would break the deal and pulled out a knife. When I said no, he just said that he would use the deal to his advantage and that I should let myself get hit by the knife. So I did. He hit my cheek first, I would have been worse if I hadn't stepped back a little. Then he went for my chest. I would have been hit if I hadn't blocked it with my hand; I figured that it didn't violate the rules because I did get hit, just in the hand instead. After that he just walked away."

"You talk as if you were just drinking tea or something like that."

"That's as close to drinking tea as I gets, when it comes with him." Natsume said coughing.

Mikan went over and placed her hand on Natsume's forehead, again, he still had a fever. "Don't act as if you're not sick."

"Sorry, it's an old habit of mine." Natsume said and went into a coughing fit.

"Okay, the meeting's over. Good night" Mikan said and led the others out, and then turned to Natsume. He hadn't coughed up blood this time (Thank god), but he was pale. "Go to sleep Natsume I'll see you tomorrow." She said and walked out the door.

"Good night, Mikan."

Natsume changed into his black pyjamas and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. His chest was burning from exhaustion when he tumbled onto his bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

Natsume woke up in the middle of the night coughing. He rolled over and grabbed a tissue, and the fight for his life began. He was staining tissue after tissue with his own blood. It hurt so much to even breathe, he almost blacked out a couple of times. He couldn't fight it any more; darkness soon wrapped itself around him. The very last thought that entered Natsume's mind before he passed out was Mikan…

"-Sume!"

"Natsume!"

"Natsume, wake up!"

"Natsume!"

He slowly opened his eyes and stared right up into a couple of chocolate-brown crying eyes.

"…Mikan…" He whispered hoarsely and gave her a rare smile.

"Don't scare me like that idiot!" She broke down crying in Natsume's arms.

"Sorry…"

"Don't ever do that again!"

"Sorry…"

Mikan curled up beside Natsume and rested her head on his chest.

"Mikan, I need to take my pills. Can you get off me?" Natsume asked after some time.

"Sure…" Mikan said and sniffled.

"Thanks."

Natsume got out of bed, found his pills and poured them down with some water. He looked up at the clock, it said: 6:30.

"Come on Mikan. We can still make it to school; it's our last day. We should enjoy it."

"You're right. But are you well enough to come to school?"

"I'm as well as possible, given the situation." Natsume said, picked some clothes out of the closet and went to the bathroom. 10 minutes later he came out dressed, he glanced at the bed. It didn't look so good, there was blood on the sheets and some tissue paper had fallen onto the floor. Natsume just put the tissues in the trashcan and covered his bed with his comforter.

"Are you ready?" Mikan gave a nod, "okay, then let's go."

5


	3. The diary

"It appears that only Mikan and Natsume are absent." Narumi noted and looked sadly at the 2 empty spots in the back.

"Come on Natsume! We're going to be late!" They heard Mikan's voice outside.

"Would you give it a rest polka dots? It's like it's your first day of school or something." That was clearly Natsume.

"It's just because it's so long time since I walked to school with you!"

"It hasn't been that long. What has it been? 2 days?"

"4 days!"

"Already that long?"

"Yes! Now will you hurry up?"

"Fine, fine. I'm coming." Natsume said, clearly annoyed.

Everyone in the class smiled at this. Everyone had missed Mikan and Natsume. A couple of minutes later the door opened and Mikan suck her head in.

"Will you just go in already?" Natsume said grinning.

"Sorry we're late Narumi-sensei." Mikan apologised and bowed her head.

"It's fine Mikan-chan. Just go to your seats. Well you guys probably have a lot to catch up on. I'll make this short: There are examines next month, so study hard. Free period!" Narumi said and walked out the door.

"We missed you." Everyone gathered around Mikan and Natsume's table.

"Where have you been Natsume?"

"I've been busy."

They just went on with questions like that, until Mikan asked them to stop.

"Come on leave him alone. We have bigger things to worry about: Examines next month! How am I going to pass?" Mikan looked so pathetic that everyone started laughing. The most of them scattered after that, the only ones that still stood at their table were Ruka, Hotaru and Koko.

"Black cat." The whole class became quiet and stared in the direction the sound had come from. There stood Persona, that bastard.

Natsume sighed and stood up. "What do you want?"

"Do I have to have a reason to come and see you?" Persona asked with a disgusting smile on his face, "how's your hand?"

"It's been better, yours?" Natsume said returning the smile.

"Ready to kill."

"Of course, but it's always ready to kill isn't it?"

"Naturally. You have to be ready for when someone try's to resist."

"So what's the real reason why you're here?"

"It's been moved. It's tomorrow night instead. Here's the data." Persona said and threw a package at Natsume, who caught it.

"…Can't wait." Natsume muttered and stifled a cough.

"Rough night, Natsume? I sure don't hope it keeps going like this Natsume."

"Of course you don't."

"I can always make some others do the mission. I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding someone." Persona smiled.

"I'll do it. Like hell I'm breaking the deal Persona, can't you just realise that?"

"And can't you just realise Natsume that I am tired of playing by the rules. Pretty soon when you fail I'll take everyone of them."

"Not if I can do something to stop it."

"You still think you have the strength to speak like that?"

"I'll find the strength if it keeps you away." Natsume said taking a step towards Persona.

"Uh, I'm scared," Persona walked up to Natsume and whispered something in his ear. "Well as fun as it has been to chat with you, I need to get going. Rest well Natsume, you're going to need it." Persona said as he walked out the door.

Everyone, in the class, were still quiet, waiting for Natsume to say something. Natsume opened the package and read the first line:

_Infiltrate the AAO and destroy it._

"You've got to be kidding me, you bastard." Natsume said, slammed the package down on the table and sat down.

"Natsume? What up?" Mikan asked worriedly.

"See for yourself." He said and shoved it over towards Mikan. She looked at it for a couple of minutes before she exclaimed: "But! This requires that you use your Alice a lot."

"I know. If I do it, I'll die, the deals breaks. And if I refuse, the deal breaks, and I'll probably die anyway. Whatever I do he still gets what he wants in the end."

"So by the end of tomorrow the deal fails. What will you do? Die? Or live?"

"You know I'll live. But will you come with me?" Natsume asked (Meaning to the outside world.)

"Idiot. I already said yes."

"Um, sorry but Mikan, Natsume what deal?" Pres. asked confused. The way Natsume and Mikan reacted indicated that they had forgot all about their surroundings.

"Eh? Nothing. Let's go Natsume." Mikan said and pulled Natsume's arm.

"Where to?"

"I want to get some howalons!"

"You never change. Come on!" Natsume stood up laughing. They ran out of the class, leaving a lot of questioning people.

I the hallway Narumi-sensei came running towards them.

"Did something happen? I lost track of Persona." Narumi asked them, trying to catch his breath.

"He came to see me about a mission. Ask Koko for further details, we're going." Natsume said and dragged Mikan along.

"Wait Natsume! You still have classes!"

"Yeah well, I did show up didn't I?" Natsume said grinning and started running.

"Nats-! Who am I kidding he's not coming back. Have fun." Narumi went to the class.

Natsume and Mikan sat at the sakura tree, Mikan with a howalon box on her lap.

"What time is it?" Natsume asked.

"It's 5 pm. We should get ready, after all it's tonight…" Mikan said, "I wish time would just stop like this."

"I don't know how many times I've wished for time to stop at exact moments, but it was only hope sooner or later I had to keep walking." Natsume replied and stood up, "Lets go say goodbye and then see your uncle." Natsume said extending his hand towards her.

"Yeah, you're right as always. I'm going to miss everyone."

"You don't regret it do you?"

"Of course not. There is nothing I want more than to be with you Natsume."

"And I you… Where will we go once we get to the outside world?"

"How about going to your dad's house first. Just for a short visit of course, we can't risk being discovered. Then after that see my grandfather." Mikan said and started walking in the direction of the dorms.

"That sounds like a plan. Lets do that if we can, and if we can't then we have to improvise." Natsume said and followed her.

"That does sound like a plan doesn't it?" She turned back and smiled at him.

"Come on. We don't have much time."

"Yeah. I love you Natsume."

"I love you too. More than anything else, forever."

"Goodbye Hotaru! I promise I'll come and see you after you have graduated and things have calmed down." Mikan cried hugging Hotaru.

"I'll keep you to that promise. And remember if it's an emergency and you need a place to stay before I graduate, then my brother has a house in Tokyo." Hotaru hugged Mikan back surprisingly the ice-princess had tears in her eyes.

"Goodbye Natsume. Say hi to your dad and Aoi from me. I'll miss you." Ruka said.

"See you Ruka. Still haven't regretted coming to this academy with me?"

"Of course not, it never even crossed my mind. Meeting you and coming to the academy are 2 things that I'll never regret." Ruka hugged Natsume, "I'm sorry I wasn't a better support for you in all those years. I was quite useless wasn't I?"

"Just you being there was good enough. I couldn't have made it if you weren't. Thank you Ruka, and goodbye."

"Goodbye Mikan… I'll miss you. Hyuuga! You better take good care of her. I won't forgive you if anything happens to her!"

"I know you won't Hotaru, and I won't let anything happen to Mikan I promise. Sorry, but Mikan it's time to go."

"…Of course. I'll see you Hotaru." Mikan said and hugged her childhood friend the last time.

"I'll see you Mikan. I'll be waiting!"

"See you Natsume. Take care of yourself!" Ruka looked worried at his friend.

"Of course, I always take care of myself. And I have Mikan."

"I'll take care of him Ruka. Even though he is a little stubborn sometimes." Mikan laughed.

"A little stubborn? Sometimes? I think you've got the wrong guy, the Natsume I know isn't stubborn at all…" Ruka commented ironically leaving everyone laughing.

"Mikan we've got to go now. They're waiting for us" Natsume said and headed for the door.

"Yeah… Lets go!" Mikan stormed out of the room before she could change her mind. After all there was only a couple of years before they could see each other again.

"Mikan, wait." Natsume ran after her. When he got close to her, he spun her around. There were tears in her eyes. He took her in his arms. "We're going to see each other again, just wait and see. Shh… Calm down."

"…I'm fine now… You're right. We will see them again." Mikan said and started walking again.

"Mikan! Natsume!" They turned around in the direction of the sound. Sakurano was running towards them.

"Sakurano? What are you doing here?" Natsume asked puzzled.

"Yukihira sent me here to get you. I'm going to teleport, hang on." Sakurano grabbed both of them and the next thing they knew they were standing in the middle of Yukihira's office. Yukihira was sitting behind the desk, he stood up as soon as he saw them and began walking over to them.

"Thank you Sakurano. Mikan, Natsume hello."

"Uncle!" Mikan ran over and hugged him. Their relationship had grown stronger over the years and Mikan had been there for advice many times.

"Mikan, I'm so glad that you made it here without any trouble. Hello Natsume. How are you?"

Natsume just smiled at the question. "I see that that is everyone's favourite subject in these days. I never fail to answer 'I'm fine' even I get weary of that sometimes. But as you know with lying everyday it becomes a habit. Maybe just this once I should answer with 'I'm not fine, but I'll live' and get over it, but after that all the questions will arrive. So how about we leave it at 'I'm fine' and not waste our time talking about things that cannot be undone, but instead talk about how we are going to stay alive in the future?"

"As usual you are exceedingly bright with words. But those things that can't be undone are partly me fault so how about we discuss it, for my sake. How much pain has I caused you all these years, without even lifting a finger to stop it?" Yukihira walked over to Natsume, prepared to hear his sin.

"I never blamed you for one thing that has happened. And giving you the whole sad story would take to long. Lets say that over the years the life that was taken was about 70%, and the pain… Enough for a lifetime." Natsume said as he walked past Yukihira, to stand by Mikan's side.

"I'm so sorry… Can you ever forgive me…?" Yukihira asked and turned around.

"I already told that I never blamed you for anything that has happened. The past is the past. And one thing that I've learned from all these years, is never looking back at unhappy memories, keep going forward. No matter what happens. Don't stop. You'll be left behind, with no way to get away…" Natsume replied and put him arm around Mikan's waist.

"You're right, I just wish I knew what you went through to get here."

Natsume sighed and looked inside his bag, he found a book and pulled it out. "Then here is a 100% 'what I went through' diary. 8 years of life scribbled into that book. I want it back someday."

"You wrote a diary I didn't know that." Mikan said surprised she glanced over at the book. It was thick, well there was 8 years in it.

"Survival 101. I probably would have gone mad if I didn't have it." Natsume handed it to Yukihira.

"Are you sure? Can I have it?" Yukihira asked and took it as if it was gold.

"Yeah, I don't need it anymore. I have Mikan. But I do want it back someday, you know what they say: Learn from the past. I certainly have."

"Of course. Thank you." Yukihira said and placed the book on his desk.

"…If it makes you feel better." Natsume whispered so only Mikan heard him. She was grinning at him.

"Well, back to business. At 1 am Sakurano is going to teleport you to the keyhole. You will escape through there and on to the outside world." Yukihira said, "We have 3 Alice stones you can have: Shiki's barrier-stone and Yuka's teleportation for Mikan, and Subaru's healing-stone for Natsume. Take them with you and use them when you need to."

"You make the plan seem so easy." Mikan said and took the stone.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Something unexpected could happen and ruin the whole plan. But for know sleep, both of you. It's only 8 pm, you'll need all the rest you can get."

"Yeah… Come on Natsume. Let's find some pillows." Mikan dragged Natsume along and went into the next room.

"I'll go then Yukihira, and come back 00:30 am." Sakurano said and walked out of the room.

"Yeah, see you. I'll look after those 2 until then."

Mikan and Natsume came into the room carrying pillows and blankets. They made a bed out of the pillows and sat down.

"Where did Sakurano go?" Mikan asked.

"He had things to do, so he left. He'll come back half an hour before you have to go." Yukihira said as he rolled the curtains down, "Sleep. Now. I'll work for a while."

"But-" Mikan was interrupted by Natsume who dragged her down on the pillows with him.

"Sleep!" He said and tossed her blanket over her. He took his after that and rolled over to face her. "Sleep. We're going to need it."

"Fine…" Mikan yawned. She fell asleep immediately after that.

"…Idiot." Natsume whispered as he looked at her sleeping face.

"Natsume. Are you sure I can have this?" Natsume turned around to face Yukihira who was holding his diary.

"Yeah. I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't want you to read it."

"But, this is your life, your feelings. Do you really want me to know that?"

"I can't see why not. The most of it is just sentimental scribbling, my actions and my condition. If it keeps you from asking me a lot of annoying questions then I'll gladly give it to you. Maybe it will help you know 'the dark side' of the school a little better."

"Yeah, it certainly will. You've come to know that 'dark side' pretty good, haven't you?"

"I've seen my fair share." Natsume said with a painful smile on his face, he muffled a cough with his sleeve. Yukihira turned to one of the first pages and started reading:

August 6th - 8 years old.

What the hell is with this academy? The first day I was introduced to the dangerous ability class, it's like they're raising some kind of military force or something. And then that creepy guy, what does he want with me? He said to me that I should come to the north forest at midnight and train. But I can't refuse he has Aoi… I couldn't protect her. I still remember the 'talk' we had last weak: "Natsume, if you find yourself in a situation were you can't escape then kill yourself. We can't let your power fall into the enemy's hands. Think about what would happen to those dear to you if you failed me." Yeah and good morning to you too! That bastard… but he has a point he can't let my powers fall into enemy's hands because it's to strong, I realise that. But it has its consequences. I can already feel the effect it's having on my body. If it keeps going on like this or gets worse then I'll probably be in a really bad condition in 10 years. My dad always said to me that I couldn't get caught by the academy because I had this type of Alice. But it it's to late. What I did was necessary in that situation, if I didn't go then they would have forced my little sister…

Natsume… I wish you could have had a better life. This is not the life an 8 year old should have had. He should have been home with his family and just worry about school stuff. I mean already talking about killing yourself! He shouldn't even have known what it meant!

"…Natsume? Are you awake?" Yukihira asked quietly.

"Hmm… What is it?" Natsume said drowsily and opened his eyes.

"Did you ever think about killing yourself?"

"…Constantly. I almost did it a couple of times, but I always stopped. I had things to protect. That was my reason for living. I gradually stopped caring about what happened to me just they were safe."

"That's cruel!"

"Maybe it is. I didn't really care at that time. The only thing I had was Ruka, and then my family. I didn't even have proof that they were alive. That was what I was hoping for, for 2 years. 2 years until I could verify that they were alive. I haven't seen them since." Natsume explained and coughed.

"That must have been terrible."

"Cough!"

"Natsume? Is something wrong?"

He was just answered with more and more coughing, and then suddenly he stopped. Natsume slowly wiped the blood off his mouth, with the back of his shaking hand.

"Natsume!"

"Uhh…"

"Natsume." Yukihira stood up and rushed over to Natsume.

"…Quiet down …You'll wake Mikan up." Natsume said. His voice was strained.

"What are you talking about? You… I didn't know it was this bad."

"Bad? …This isn't bad." Natsume gasped and reached for his bag. He found it and opened it. He reached down in it and took out 2 bottles with pills. He took 2 of each and tried to calm down while they began to work.

"It's been worse than this?" Yukihira asked shocked.

"I need… Sleep." Natsume ignored Yukihira and fell down on the pillows again. He fell into an unconscious state immediately.

"Wait! Oh well. You've done well for all these years Natsume." Yukihira praised and stroked Natsume's sweaty hair.

Everything has been too hard on you… Yukihira thought, '_Bad? …This isn't bad.'_ I wonder how bad it's been. …I can't wake him up. Maybe he wrote something about it in his diary.

Yukihira walked up to his desk and got the book. He flipped pages for a couple of minutes before he found a page, there was blood on it.

November 27th – I just turned 16.

It's my birthday today… So what? It's not like the day would have gone differently if I told him. I feel like crap. The pain my Alice is causing me has become harder and harder to take over the years. I've just been on a mission; I should be sleeping the pain away now. But I can't… The only rule he gave me was "Be back in 3 hours." I couldn't keep it, it took longer than I expected. This is my punishment: He gave me some drugs that make it impossible to sleep, or be unconscious. This is hell… I'm pretty cut up, but he also forbade me from going to the hospital…

The worst thing is my Alice… I can barely write because my hands are shaking. But I think this is a god distraction from it. The pain… I wonder how long I can keep this up? Just a month seems impossible right now. But I guess I'll get used to it, with time… And I have Mikan. When it's really bad she's the only thing that keeps me from giving up… Having the forth type of Alice is excruciating. I wish I never-

(The next piece of the page was splattered with blood.)

Damn… I'm gonna die… Sooner rather than later…

I wish, that this could just be over…

"…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Natsume…"

I should have helped you. Instead I just left you, alone, in that world of suffering, an eight year old. And now you've grown up with it… The worst thing is that somewhere in the middle of all of it, you accepted it. Thought it couldn't be different, because you've only tried to have a peaceful life one time, and it was taken from you. And replaced with this… You couldn't have had it worse than this.


	4. The meeting

"Hmm…" Mikan woke up; she opened her eyes and turned to look for her uncle. He was sitting behind his desk, reading Natsume's diary. He was in deep concentration.

"Uncle?" Yukihira was so shocked by the sound of her voice that he slammed the book shut.

"Oh, Mikan. You scared me."

"Sorry. Has Natsume written something interesting?"

"Everything Natsume has written is interesting. I still cannot believe everything he went through. But it's all written down in this book."

"Yeah. I only know part of it myself. And if the part I know seems terrifying enough, then what about the other part?" Mikan looked down at Natsume and was shocked to see blood on the palm of his hand. "…Has he been coughing blood again?"

"Does it happen normally?"

"All the time…"

"All the time?"

"Yeah. It's annoying that he doesn't seem to realise how important his life is. It's gotten better over the years but still… I wish he would treasure his life a little more."

"With the life he has had I don't blame him."

"Mm… Cough!" Natsume woke up.

"Natsume. Did we wake you?"

"Huh? No I don't think so…"

"Natsume." Mikan pouted and stared at him.

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you wake me? I could have helped…"

"Because you were sleeping so soundly, and it wasn't serious, I could handle it."

"Wake me every time! Maybe it wasn't serious at first, but it could've turned serious!"

"…Fine…" Natsume accepted her demands after some time, of thinking about refusing her.

Immediately Mikan looked relieved and smiled at Natsume. "Thank you."

Natsume went to the bathroom to wash the blood off his face and hand. Mikan and Yukihira decided to read another page in Natsume's diary, to make the half hour go quicker.

July 12th – Failed mission (12 years old.)

The mission started easily everything was going perfectly. The mission was to infiltrate Z's headquarters and steal information about the organisation. Me and Hayate disguised as bodyguards and melted in with the crowd. We found the room were the information was, but just before we were about to take it Azuma Yuka comes through the door, with 10 soldiers (or something like that). We tried to fight them and get out but we were at disadvantage, so we had to give up. They took us to their 'dungeons' and put a STRONG barrier up around the cell. They had us there for 2 week's, tortured us for information about the academy (Of course we didn't say anything…) And then out of the blue Persona infiltrates Z to get us back, witch he does… I wish I could say finally back at the academy, but just minutes after we arrived Persona starts interrogating us about how much information we gave to Z about the academy. He interrogated us for a couple of days before he had to realise that we hadn't said anything…

On top of that when I finally came back to the dorm, Ruka was out of his mind worried. He had literally camped inside my room, and waited for me to come back. And so I did… Exhausted as I was he wouldn't let me sleep until I had given him the reason why I was missing for over 2 weeks… Of course I lied and said something about traveling (even though it was tearing me up to have to lie to him.) I couldn't tell him the truth, wasn't allowed to… I'm so tired of all this… So tired…

Natsume had come in halfway through. He just sat down and listened to the rest of the story.

"What did they do to you, Natsume?" Yukihira asked.

"You really want to know?"

"…Yes."

"Fine. They… They did everything they could think of. Drowning, cutting, whipping, burning… And so on…"

"Oh God…" Yukihira moaned. "…How old were you here?"

"How old was I? …Twelve I think."

"Twelve…" Yukihira rested his head in his hands.

"I remember when you were gone… I was in the academy at that time. So this was your vacation…" Mikan said sadly.

"Yeah. …This was my vacation."

**1 pm.**

"Remember what we talked about. Once you're outside, you need to change location. Go to Natsume's old house like you planed, you can't stay in one place for more than 4 days it's too risky. You understand?" Yukihira asked them.

"Yes."

Yukihira handed them some money, "Here take this, you can't use rabbits outside this academy."

"Thank you, uncle. For everything." Mikan said and hugged him.

"Take care Natsume. Look after my niece."

"You know I will."

"Well then, are you ready Sakurano?"

"Yes I am." Sakurano said and took their hands.

"Goodbye Mikan, Natsume."

The next thing they knew they were standing in front of the music room where the warp-hole was. Sakurano put the key inside turned it 3 times and said the keyword, soon the keyhole began to suck.

"Remember to picture Natsume's house when you enter or else you won't be sent there." Sakurano explained.

"Are you ready Mikan?" Natsume asked and looked at her.

"Yeah, come on."

They held each other's hands, pictured the house and got sucked in. The landing knocked them unconscious.

When Mikan woke up, she was on a bed in Aoi's room. Outside the window the sun was rising. She heard noise downstairs and went down to have a look. Mr Hyuuga and Aoi were in the kitchen talking.

"Hello." Mikan went inside. Aoi and Mr Hyuuga immediately turned their heads towards her.

"Good morning Mikan." Aoi said and gave her a big smile.

"Quite a shock you gave us. But a happy one." Mr Hyuuga said. "Why are you out of school before graduation?"

"We ran away, there wasn't any other choice. Where's Natsume?"

"He's still sleeping, in his old room. What do you mean no other choice?"

"That's a long story, I think we should wait until Natsume's here as well. He can probably tell it better than me."

"How has his life been?"

Mikan was unsure of how to answer this question, she didn't want to hurt Natsume's dad. "It has been… Tough."

After Mikan said this they heard a door open in the back of the house. Footsteps slowly moved towards the kitchen. Seconds later Natsume stood in the door; his eyes searched the room and landed on his dad and Aoi. He just stood there and stared at them, not believing his eyes.

"Natsume?" Mr Hyuuga took a step towards him.

"…Is this a dream?" Natsume asked trying to protect himself from disappointment.

"No Natsume, this is not a dream… You're home." Mr hyuuga stepped forward and held Natsume in his arms. Gradually Natsume relaxed.

"Come on you've held him long enough, now it's my turn." Aoi said and pushed Mr Hyuuga aside. "Nii-chan!" Aoi flung her arms around him, and toppled him so he landed in a sitting position. Aoi cried against his chest and Natsume tried his best to comfort her.

"Come on you to. Natsume, they need an explanation about what happened over these 8 years…" Mikan said to Natsume.

"Yeah…" Natsume sighed.

"Come on lets go into the living room. I'll make some tea." Mr hyuuga said and put some water on the stove.

A quarter later everyone sat in the living room with a mug of tea. The room was quiet, Natsume didn't know were to start or how much to tell.

"Natsume. Start with the 2 years I wasn't in the school. Then I can help you with the rest."

"The start of it all… Ruka and me were brought to the academy. We were introduced to our class and ability class. I was given the rank special star and put into the dangerous ability class. Persona immediately started training me and my Alice for combat. They used to threaten me, with Aoi and Ruka; you can say that I was cowed into obedience. After a while I started doing missions for the school. If I failed punishment, if I succeeded nothing." Natsume stopped talking and took a sip of the tea. "I soon became aware of the effect my Alice had on my body. My missions weren't exactly improving my condition, but I found myself in no position to refuse. Ruka saw me being driven into a corner and tried to help. It's not that I didn't like Ruka's company, it just made everything worse. I gradually locked my feelings into my heart. And just when I think I had hit rock bottom. Mikan came."

Natsume looked up, for the last part of his story he had stared into the mug of tea.

"And how-" Mr Hyuuga cleared his throat, "and how old were you until Mikan came?"

"I was… 8,9 and 10."

"Yeah, when I came you were really mean!"

"Sorry." Natsume and Mikan exchanged glances, both of them were smiling.

"I guess I'll tell the rest of the story now, you never were much of a storyteller Natsume."  
>"One of my many flaws."<p>

"Well then, were to start. After I came, we were kidnapped. Then there was that incident with Z, were we had to get the antidote for Hotaru. Wait I'm rushing into this."

Mikan began telling everything that had happened after she came to the school. It was a long story so they sat there till it was evening.

"That's about it. Isn't it Natsume?" Mikan finished telling the story, and asked Natsume.

"Yep, that covers it. Although you could have made the story a little shorter look how dark it is outside."

"I can't help it. We've had way to many things happening in our lives."

"Yeah you're right…" Natsume sighed.

"I can guess that what you need now are years of peace and quiet." Natsume's dad said and took all four cups to the kitchen.

"Peace and quiet…" Natsume whispered his voice was filled with doubt.

"Well then I think it's bedtime. Mikan you can sleep upstairs with Aoi in her room, I'll mattress in there. Natsume you sleep in your old room, beside mine. Good night."

"Good night." Everyone answered.

Fire followed him everywhere. Natsume ran as fast as he could, but he couldn't get away. Persona's face was everywhere, whispering things like murderer, killer, did you think you could get away from me? You're mine Natsume, you always will be. Guess what I will do to your loved ones. You're mine.

'Shut up!'

I always knew you were weak Natsume, but not this weak. If the enemy captures you then commit suicide. Black cat.

'Shut up! Shut up!'

Someone grabbed Natsume's shoulder. Natsume, thinking it was an enemy, rolled out of bed and immediately got into fighting position. He already stood with a small fireball, when he realised that it was his father.

"Sorry." Natsume said after he had absorbed the fire. He stood with his back to the wall, trying to calm down. His heart was beating quickly in his chest from the shock.

"You don't have to apologise, it was my own fault. You were having a nightmare?"

"…Yeah." Natsume realised that he was drenched in cold sweat. Natsume yanked his shirt off and went to the closet. The moonlight shone in from the window. In the light Natsume's dad got a sight of his back, it was very muscular which witnessed all the training Natsume had been in, but the most disturbing was all the scars on his back.

Mr Hyuuga gasped. Natsume turned around revealing more scars on his torso.

"What is it?" Natsume asked.

"How did you get all of those scars?" He asked quietly.

"…" Natsume looked at his dad, he looked as though he was scared of finding out. There was also a little pity in his eyes; Natsume didn't like that, "a lot of ways."

"Natsume, how did you get them?" His father said with a lot more determination in his voice.

"It doesn't matter. I'm out of the academy, never going back."

"Natsume-"

"Dad please… Don't." Natsume said, he sounded like a child again.

"…Fine."

Satisfied Natsume turned around, found an old t-shirt and pulled it on. But when he turned around he found his dad on the bed sobbing.

"…Hey." Natsume said shocked and sat beside his dad. "What's wrong?"

"I'm a bad father… I'm a bad father…" He sobbed.

"Shh… Calm down. You're not a bad father." Natsume said and put an arm around him.

"Yes I am… It's my entire fault. I didn't keep my promise to Kaoru."

"Shh… You kept your promise remember. You made us move so many times in attempt to save us. You did so much, they were just to cruel to avoid."

"I should have done more. I should have moved to a new place after that meeting with Persona." His sobbing didn't stop.

"Even if you had moved again they would have found us. There was nothing you could do."

"…Are you sure?" His dad asked with the voice of a child who needed to be forgiven.

"…Absolutely sure." Natsume reassured him.

For some time they both just sat there, in their own thoughts. Mr hyuuga glanced over at Natsume's face, shocked to find it pale.

"Natsume? Are you okay?"

"…Yeah." Natsume insisted, but his dad could hear his voice shake and Natsume's raspy breath sounded heavily in the room.

"Natsume, what's wrong?" His father asked worriedly.

The first cough rung through the room. Followed by another and another.

"Natsume!"

Natsume's coughing grew more violent. Mr hyuuga was stunned, worried and most of all he didn't know what to do, he just sat there shocked. Soon footsteps were heard running down the stairs. Mikan burst into the room; she went over to Natsume and put her arms around him as he finished coughing.

Natsume was left panting heavily and leaning on Mikan. Slowly the room grew quiet, too quiet. Natsume slumped unconscious against Mikan.

"…Natsume." Mikan whispered, "answer me…"

"Natsume!" Mr Hyuuga shook Natsume shoulder, only to find him not responding.

Mikan gently laid Natsume back on the bed. Teary eyed she checked for a pulse, she was beginning to panic when she felt a faint pulse under the tip of her fingers.

"…He's alive." Mikan said and burst into tears.

Confused as he was to the cause, he tried to comfort Mikan, but found it impossible to say something. He asked instead. "…Is he sick?"

Mikan looked up at him. "It's his Alice…"

"But-" He was lost for words. "But Kaoru wasn't as bad as this…"

"Then Natsume's probably used more of his Alice than she had." Mikan said tiredly and laid down beside Natsume. She quickly fell asleep, snuggling up against his side.

"…Good night, and thank you. For being there for him when I wasn't." He said and went to bed, after fetching a wet cloth that he put on Natsume's burning forehead.

"Good morning Mikan. Has Natsume woken up yet?" Mr Hyuuga stood in his bathrobe with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Good morning. No, he hasn't woken up yet. I think we should take turns watching over him, just in case."

"Yeah… You seem tired, you should get some rest, and it's only 5 am. I'll watch him for now…"

"Yeah." Mikan yawned, "thank you."

"No need to thank me, he's my son."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just used to handling these kinds of things on my own." Mikan said and turned around to go back to Aoi's room.

"Has this happened many times before?"

Mikan looked back at him sadly, "Yes, this had happened a lot of times."

"…I see. Good night."

"Good night."

He walked into Natsume's room and sat down on the bed. Natsume's face was red and sweaty from the fever. He changed the cloth on Natsume's forehead. Then he started reading a book.

After a while Natsume's eyes fluttered open.

"Natsume?"

Natsume face twisted in pain, he rolled over on his side and clutched his chest.

"Natsume? Does it hurt?" He was panicking, and retched out to grab hold of Natsume's hand. Natsume grabbed his hand tightly, as if it could relieve his pain.

"Mikan!" Mr Hyuuga yelled, hoping that she knew what to do. "Mikan!"

Some time after Mikan burst into the room, still in her nightgown. She eyed the situation and went to Natsume's bag; she poured everything out from it. She searched for Natsume's pills and the healing stone. When she found the stone, she put it in Natsume's hand and waited for it to begin working. Soon Aoi came down to, she wanted to immediately start asking questions, but didn't say anything because she saw the seriousness of the situation. Everyone gathered on Natsume's bed, soon Natsume's gasping slowed down and he started breathing normally again. Natsume looked at them in turn, but stopped at Mikan.

"…Pills." Natsume muttered with a weak voice.

"Yeah." Mikan hurried over to Natsume's bag that was gathered in a small pile on the floor. She found the pill cases and took 1 of each. "Here." She put the pills in Natsume's hand.

Natsume pushed himself up and swallowed the pills. After that, exhausted as he was, he fell asleep. Natsume's grip of Mr hyuuga's hand loosened and he could pull his hand free, there were marks on his hand from being gripped so tightly.

Natsume's face glistened of cold sweat.

"What's wrong with Nii-chan?" Aoi asked.

"His Alice is the forth type, the one that decreases his lifespan every time he uses it. From Mikan's story I can guess that he has been using his Alice a lot."

"Too much for his own good. …I don't know how long he has left."

"How about we take this discussion into the kitchen and let him sleep. I have eggs and bacon." Mr Hyuuga offered, none of them felt hungry, but they went anyway.


	5. The condition

"So you're saying that it's normal for him to cough up blood?" He asked.

"Yeah, sadly it's pretty normal." Mikan answered calmly. "When it happens, I just normally wait until it's over, and then give him the pills. Except when it's really bad, we have the healing Alice stone from Hotaru's brother."

"And how-" Mr hyuuga started, "How long does he have left?"

"I don't know. Every time I've asked, he always evaded the question. I'm not sure he knows."

"A month, …maybe two if I don't use my Alice at all." Everyone turned around to face the doorway, there stood Natsume. He was wearing an oversize t-shirt and pants, his hair was a mess, he was still a little pale, and his ruby red eyes looked at them tiredly.

"Natsume. Why are you out of bed?" Mikan asked.

"Don't worry I'm going back. I just came to get a glass of water when I heard you guys talking." Natsume went over to the cabinet, took a glass and went over to the sink to fill it. Arms hugged him from behind, Aoi's. He felt from her shaking that she was crying. He turned around and hugged her back, leaving his glass of water beside the sink.

"Shh… Don't cry." Natsume whispered to her.

"It was my fault…" Aoi sobbed, her voice was muffled by Natsume's shirt. "It was my fault."

"Aoi listen to me, and listen to me clearly. It was not your fault."

"But-"

"No, but's. You took the stone without knowing what it was, and your Alice went crazy. But that was Persona's fault and not yours. Loosing your memory and being captured by Persona wasn't your fault. You couldn't do anything about it."

"But, you made my crime your own."

"And that was my decision, therefore not your fault."

"But you didn't know the consequences!"

"I know them know, and if I could go back I wouldn't change that decision."

"Why?"

"Because I know the consequences, and I don't think I have the heart to give them to anyone else." Natsume said and coughed.

"Nats-" Mikan and his dad started, but Natsume silenced them by shaking his head.

"Wipe the tears of your face, now is not the time for crying."

"But you're dying."

"All the more reason." Natsume said and stoked her cheeks with the back of his hand. He leaned over and kissed her on her brow.

"Can you manage a smile?"

Aoi shook her head.

"Not even a little one?" Natsume said with a smile all over his face that gave him difficulty speaking.

Aoi frowned at him. Natsume went for tougher methods and started tickling her. She soon broke down laughing. Aoi got away from him by pushing him in the chest and running up to her room laughing. When she was gone Natsume coughed from the push in the chest she had given him.

"Why do you accept death so easily?" Mr Hyuuga asked. "Why don't you fight it?"

"Do you think I don't fight it?" Natsume said a little hurt, "Do you think I just sit back and let it all roll out, and just die?"

"I-" His dad was stunned and didn't know what to say.

"I've fought death half of my life. Half of my life I have fought to stay alive almost every day. If I hadn't fought then I wouldn't be here today. Even I can't fight death when it comes from 2 fronts, if I hadn't used my Alice as much as needed when I was on missions I would be dead know, and by using my Alice I literally killed myself slowly. I was a kid, I didn't know what to do, but I did it as best as I could. I decided that I would focus on the danger that was in front of me and deal with the rest later.

I knew that I was going to die, from a very young age. Don't you think I have had time to accept it? The doctors' all said that I would die when I was fifteen; here I am now, a year or more later, alive. From my first mission and to this day I have fought death with every ounce of my body. Of course I wanted to die plenty of times, but that was a long time ago. How many times have I thought what's the point? The only thing I do is wake up to more pain and God knows what else. Yes I have accepted death, but I also want to live, with everything I have left, I want to live. I want to live as long as possible, when I die it's because I have no strength left and until then …I fight." Natsume said quietly, took his glass and went out of the room.

"Wait, Natsume. Where are you going?" Mikan asked.

"I'm off to die in peace." Natsume yelled back ironically.

"That's not funny!"

"I know." Natsume's door closed.

Mikan looked behind her, Mr Hyuuga stared into space with an unreadable expression on his face. Mikan went after Natsume and left Mr Hyuuga to think in peace. She opened the door, Natsume opened his eyes to look at her, he had already gone to bed.

"Can I join you?" Mikan asked.

"Of course." Natsume moved over to make room for her. Mikan laid down on the bed, Natsume's arm curled around her waist hugging her.

"Does your body hurt?" Mikan asked Natsume.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna sleep."

Mikan listened to Natsume breath become slower and more even. After a while Mikan fell asleep as well.

Muffled coughs woke Mikan from her sleep; she turned around to look at Natsume. He was muffling his coughs with his pillow. He stopped after a while.

"Sorry did I wake you?" Natsume asked as he dried his mouth with the backside of his hand.

"You should have woken me. You promised, no matter what."

"I wasn't coughing up blood, if I was going to I could always kick you."

"No you wouldn't have."

"You want to bet?"

"… Oh well I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you're okay too."

"I'm always okay, you're the troublesome one." Mikan laughed.

"Oh yeah? How about the time when you had a fever and I had to take care of you?"

"That was a long time ago." Mikan said embarrassed.

"Or that other time where-"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Mikan interrupted Natsume, her irritated voice made Natsume laugh.

"What time is it?" Mikan asked quickly to change the subject.

Natsume looked up at the clock. "It's 6:30 pm, dinnertime I guess."

"I guess it's time to get our clothes on, we can't go wandering around in pyjamas all day."

"Why not?" Mikan pouted, she didn't want to leave bed.

"You're so lazy." Natsume said and got out of bed. His sight flickered and went black; he sat down on the bed and waited for it to pass.

"Are you okay Natsume?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little dizzy." Natsume said after his sight had returned to normal. He stood up again and went to his bag that was spread all around the room after last night.

"Wow, you really are messy." Natsume began looking for something to wear.

"I was in a hurry." Mikan walked towards the door, "I'm going up to Aoi's room to get my clothes.

"Okay, see you in a little."

"Yeah." She went out and closed the door behind her.

Finally Natsume found all the clothes he needed. He began changing, in the middle someone knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Natsume called.

"Can I come in?" Mr Hyuuga's voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"Sure."

Mr Hyuuga came inside. Natsume still hadn't put his shirt on, you could see all the muscles he had got undergoing Persona's rough training. Also to his father's distress some scares were visible on his bare chest. Natsume saw his father's troubled face stare at his chest, so Natsume hurried and pulled the shirt on.

None of them felt much like starting the conversation so an awkward silence roamed in the room. Finally Mr Hyuuga said something.

"I'm sorry about this morning. I had no right to question you." He stumbled through the apology, making Natsume strain his ears to hear what he said.

"It doesn't matter, you have the right to be confused."

"If I can then I would like to ask you some questions."

"Ask away."

"Will you promise to answer?"

"…Fine."

"Did you ever think of me? Did you ever wait for me to rescue you?"

"I though about you all the time. For the first year or so I waited for you to save me, or not you, I just wanted to be saved. I soon began to understand that I wasn't going to be saved, and that I should get used to living like that. And so I did."

"Did you ever cry?"

"What with these questions?"

"Just answer."

"Yes, I cried in the car when we drove away from you. I stopped crying half a year after I came to the academy. I haven't cried since."

"How did you get most of your scars?"

Natsume didn't want to answer that question he sat down on the bed and looked down.

"Natsume. You promised to answer me."

"It's not something you need to know."

"It is something I need to know and comfort you with."

"Comfort? Are you serious?" Natsume said disbelievingly.

"Yes I am, I'm your father and I need to know this."

"Fine. It happened when I was twelve years old. A guy called Hayate and I were sent out on a mission to steal information from Z. We were discovered and ended up spending 2 week's in their dungeons being tortured for information about the academy. Then suddenly out of the blue Persona shows up and gets us out of there. And just when I wanted to say, yes I'm back at the academy, Persona drags us with him for another 2 day's of interrogation, regarding how much information we gave them about the academy. It took him 2 day's to finally get it into his little mind that we hadn't said anything. The other scars are just from various missions and so on."

Mr Hyuuga hugged his son. "I'm sorry Natsume." He said quietly, for once Natsume didn't say anything.

Their embrace was shortened by Aoi yelling: "Natsume!"

Natsume and Mr Hyuuga glanced worriedly at each other before they both hurried towards the direction of Aoi's voice. She stood at the window with Mikan. They both watched in horror at something out the window. Natsume looked between them, Persona was walking up the hillside.

"Get away from the window." Natsume told them and shut the curtains.

_He's about 200 meters away from the house. That gives us about 5 minutes. What to do?_ - Natsume thought

"Mikan we're leaving, but we need to do it were he sees it, or else he'll search the house and find my dad and Aoi. Dad are there any hiding places?"

"…There's one on the backside of the house."

"Perfect. Mikan pack your things. Hurry." Natsume ran off to his own room and started gathering his things. His dad soon came in to help.

"What are we supposed to do?" Mr Hyuuga asked confused.

"You're going to hide at the backside of the house until you're sure he's gone."

"What about you and Mikan?"

"We're probably going to Mikan's grandfathers if this works out and we're not captured." Natsume said and sipped his bag.

"Will we see each other again?"

"Hopefully. But it isn't certain."

Natsume dragged his dad with him out of the room and up the stairs to Aoi's. Mikan and Aoi were there.

"Are you ready?" Natsume asked Mikan.

"Yes, I'm ready. Where are we going to teleport?"

"To your grandfathers."

Natsume went over to the window and opened it.

"We're getting down through here."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Aoi exclaimed.

"Climb the tree down. Dad you go first."

Mr Hyuuga neared the window, he looked at the branch that was almost right below the window, and wondered if it would hold his weight. He climbed out the window and onto the branch after a moment of hesitation.

"That's it, keep going." Natsume said comforting, "Aoi you're next."

"I can't do it, I can't do it." She stuttered frightened.

"I know you can do it Aoi. And dad's there to help you when you're on the tree. I'll help you get on it. Okay?"

Aoi nodded slightly and Natsume lifted her onto the tree.

"That's it Aoi, you're doing so good. Now crawl over to Dad. That's it." Aoi reached Mr Hyuuga who helped down onto a lower branch.

Natsume froze as he heard the front door open.

"Natsume. I know you're in here. Come out, come out wherever you are." Persona chanted from the hallway. His voice sending chills down he's spine.

Aoi and Mr Hyuuga were halfway down the tree.

"Go Mikan." Natsume whispered in her ear. Mikan slowly started getting out on the branch. Natsume knew that he had to hold Persona off for a little while so that Aoi and his dad could get into their hiding place without Persona seeing. Aoi and his dad reached the bottom of the tree, as a hideous voice sounded behind him. Natsume had already heard his steps move up the stairs and had expected him to come, but he had still hoped that Persona wouldn't come so quickly.

"Natsume." Persona said with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Persona."

"How dare you?" Persona screeched furiously.

Persona motioned to punch Natsume in the stomach. Natsume saw what he was about to do and moved slightly away, just enough for Persona to miss. Natsume realised to late that Persona had a small dagger in his hand making his reach longer. Realising his mistake Natsume tried to sidestep, but the dagger still cut his side. Natsume felt warm blood run down his hip. The attack had left Persona unprotected so Natsume used all his strength and kicked Persona, he sent him almost flying into the wall. The force of the kick had opened his wound further and he felt more blood flow out. Natsume gasped and held his side. He looked out the window. His dad and Aoi were getting into the hiding place; Mikan glanced worriedly in his direction.

Natsume heard Persona groan and stumble up.

"You really don't know who you're messing with."

"Oh, I think I do." Natsume replied. Natsume put Persona's sleeve on fire and used that distraction to kick Persona again. This time Persona stumbled out the door and fell to his knees coughing.

Natsume's sight flickered as a wave of pain come from his side. He looked down the window again. Aoi and his dad were safely in their hiding place. He could go down now. Natsume looked one last time at Persona, and then he jumped out the window.

Landing proved to be more painful when you had a cut in your side than if you didn't. Natsume doubled over and pressed his hand against his side. He was loosing too much blood. Mikan rushed over to him, she removed his hand to inspect the wound, and looking grim she placed his hand over it again. She pulled his other hand over her shoulder to support him.

"Let's teleport." Mikan said and readied her Alice stone.

"No wait… We have to let him see us leave." Natsume said strained.

A moment later Persona's head glared through the window.

"Now." Mikan activated the Alice stone and without Natsume knowing it, she thought about Hotaru's brothers house instead of her grandfathers.

The air shimmered around them, the last thing they saw, before they stood in Subaru's living room, was Persona jumping down from the window and running towards them.

Subaru jumped up from the sofa in shock as Mikan and Natsume suddenly appeared out of the blue. Mikan was holding up Natsume, his other hand was clutching his side trying to stop the flow of blood that was coming from a cut on his side. Natsume's face was already pale; he had to do something before Natsume died of blood loss.

Subaru took Natsume's hand off Mikan's shoulder and placed him on the floor. He removed Natsume's hand and replaced it with his own. His hand glowed as he started to heal Natsume's side.

"What happened?"

"We went to Mr Hyuuga's house as planned, but Persona had foreseen it and came for us. We escaped by climbing out a window and onto a tree. Natsume held Persona off while I got Aoi and Mr Hyuuga into their hiding place. What did happen up there Natsume?"

"I made a mistake… Didn't realise he had a dagger… Till it was too late…" Natsume said, his voice was strained and in pauses because it hurt to breathe.

"…Do you want something for the pain? This could take a little while."

"No, it's fine… I've felt worse…"

"How much worse?"

"…A lot."

"What was the cause of that?"

"…" Natsume stayed silent didn't want to hear them pity him any more than he had already been by his own family.

"I'm not getting the answer out of you, am I?"

"No."

"Almost done."

Natsume started coughing; his shaking was causing his wound to open a little.

"Hold still." Subaru said fully concentrated on his work to notice how serious it was. First when Mikan kneeled beside Natsume, he looked up. Natsume's palm was spotted with blood.

"Oh for Gods sake." Subaru said and held his other hand over Natsume's chest. He looked up at Mikan. "What's wrong with him?"

"His Alice is the 4th type."

"And just when I thought I couldn't get any worse. Natsume, you still with us?"

Natsume nodded tiredly.

"Mikan make sure he doesn't fall asleep. It could be dangerous because he has lost so much blood."

"Natsume open your eyes, look at me."

Natsume's eyes fluttered open and stared intently at Mikan. He coughed up a little more blood. His eyes closed again.

"Natsume look at me."

Natsume just laid there completely still.

"Natsume!"

"Shut up Polka… As if I could sleep… With your racket…"

"You scared me."

"I scare you… All the time…"

"It's no good." Subaru exclaimed, "I have to just focus on place, or else nothing will heal properly."

"Just heal my side…"

"But, you'll be in pain! I-"

"Subaru." Natsume interrupted and opened his ruby eyes. "Look at me… Calm down. Just focus on healing my side…"

"But-"

"It's fine…"

"I'll give you some pills."

"You know you can't… Give me something and I'll fall asleep. I didn't remember that you were… so anxious. This can't be the first time… that you've healed someone."

"No, it's the first time with someone who has the 4th type."

Talking with Natsume was making Subaru calm and he started healing again, this time devoting his full attention to Natsume's side. He was halfway through with healing it.

Natsume was staring up into celling as he suppressed the pain his Alice was causing him. His hands were cramped into fists, and his heavy breathing tore through the silence. After a while he started shaking and closed his eyes.

"Natsume, look at me." Mikan said quietly as she stokes his forehead, it was burning hot. Natsume opened his eyes and looked her in the eyes. He stopped shaking and stared tiredly into her eyes, his forehead was glistened with sweat. "That's it. He's almost done."

Mikan stood up, "don't fall asleep Natsume, I'm going to get a cloth." She went into the kitchen and soaked a cloth with cold water. Then she walked back into the room.

"Natsume, are you sleeping?" She said as she sat down beside him, and put the cloth on his forehead.

"…Yes."

"That's not funny."

"I wasn't trying to be funny… this is just me talking in my sleep…"

"You're an idiot Natsume."

"Not as much… as you…"

Out of the sudden the room became hotter, and Natsume started breathing harder.

"Natsume control your Alice, if you don't then you're going to die." Subaru said.

"Can't I help him?"

"No, if you use nullification Natsume still uses his Alice it just won't have any effect. If you use the stealing Alice then because it's the forth type then his body will use more energy to restore what you took of his Alice. There's nothing you can do."

The rum temperature dropped as Natsume struggled to get his Alice under control.

"They always meant what they said: Strong Alice's need strong people to handle them." Subaru said as he finished healing Natsume's side. "There I'm done."

"Thanks…"

"I need to rest a minute, before I can do something about your Alice." Subaru said and dried the sweat off his forehead.

"Can I sleep now?"

"No not yet."

They sat a moment in silence, the only thing that was heard was Natsume's panting. Subaru could feel his Alice gaining more power to restore what he had just used, but it still wasn't enough to heal someone.

Natsume gave a jerk and rolled over on his side. He was shaking uncontrollably and gasping for breath, like each breath pained him as he forced himself to swallow gulps of air. He began coughing, covering his face with his arm. In between coughs he gasped for air, only being allowed a second or to before the next cough tore through him. His eyes were clamped shut as he struggled to control himself. Mikan and Subaru's voices didn't make it through the veil of pain that covered his senses. He could feel blood soaking his sleeve and taste it in his mouth. Another cough tore through him and another. Time seemed to be moving unnaturally slow.

Finally his coughing slowed down and ceased. He opened his eyes and looked straightforward, immediately his eyes locked with Mikan's. His body gave a jerk; Natsume swallowed a cry of pain and his eyes clamped shut again. No coughing this time, just pain… His pulse was pounding in his ear that was the only thing he heard except for his own shallow breaths. The pain died down, Natsume opened his eyes and looked at Mikan tears were streaming down her cheeks. He had promised her not to die, so he wouldn't.

His body gave anther jerk. …The pain was unbearable. His eyes were still locked with Mikan's; pain was probably evident in his eyes because she cried even harder than before. His sight was flickering and he soon struggled to see anything. His eyes closed. He fell into darkness…

"Natsume!" Mikan cried she looked up at Subaru. "Do something, please. I beg you." Her voice was pleading and desperate.

Subaru turned Natsume over on his back. Checked for breathing, as he placed his ear down towards Natsume's mouth he could hear Natsume breathing faintly. He looked relieved at Mikan, "he's still alive." Her expression grew softer as she smiled a little. But Subaru knew it wasn't over yet, he had to do something now or else Natsume would die. He placed his hands on Natsume's chest, and his hands began to glow. Natsume's heartbeat grew stronger after a little while. He was still unconscious but not in as bad a condition as before. All the healing was leaving Subaru exhausted; he kept going until there wasn't any more power left in him. Then he took his hands off.

"I can't do more. He's not in danger of dying, anymore." Subaru said tiredly.

"Thank you Subaru." She smiled at him.

"You're welcome." Subaru stood up. He lifted Natsume up. "Come on, you 2 can have the guestroom."

Mikan followed his down the corridor and into a room. Subaru laid Natsume down on the bed. Then he went back towards the door.

"Can you change his shirt by yourself?"

"Of course." Mikan answered already looking through Natsume's bag to find a shirt.

"Well then goodnight, I'm going to sleep, if you're hungry then you can just take something in the fridge." Subaru yawned.

"Thanks."

Mikan started pulling Natsume's shirt off, after Subaru had closed the door. It was sticky with Natsume's blood. She gave him a new shirt on after she had washed the blood off his body with a cloth. Then she changed, and laid down beside him. She fell asleep instantly.


	6. The academy

They first woke up in the afternoon, 2 days after the incident. Mikan looked at Natsume. He was still unconscious.

Subaru and Mikan ate their 'breakfast' in silence. They didn't really say much through the day, just small talked about the academy, Hotaru and other things.

They were watching the news when Natsume came in. He just sat down beside them in the sofa.

"How are you feeling?" Mikan asked him.

"Something in the middle of being kicked by a horse and okay."

The news shifted and the new headline was: Chaos at Alice academy in Tokyo.

"_For about an hour ago, it got news that the students in Alice academy are starting a rebellion against their principle. For now have found it impossible to confirm this as the principle has shut down all entry to the place. What has been confirmed just now as our helicopter flew over the school is that some of the buildings in the academy are burning. For now that is everything we now, but we promise you to be back in a little while with more information."_

"What the hell?" Natsume exclaimed.

"We have to go and help!" Mikan said looking at the other 2.

"Of course but how?"

"I can probably make a hole in the barrier with my nullification. That way-" Mikan stopped as she looked at the TV.

"_-If you know this man then be sure to contact the police, because he is missing. Abducted from his house this afternoon. The neighbours state that a man in black wearing a mask dragged the man out of the house and into his car."_

A picture was showing on the screen.

"Jii-chan…" Mikan said stuttered horrified. "I have to go!" She jumped up from the sofa.

"Wait, Mikan." Natsume stopped her, "where are you going to go?"

"To his house!"

"Wait, Mikan." Mikan struggled to get out of Natsume's arms, "you heard the description, if it is Persona that has him then he would have taken him to the academy."

"What do they want with him!" Mikan shouted.

"They probably thought that we would go there after we went to my house. They were chasing us. When we weren't there then they must have taken your grandfather for questioning."

"Let me go!" she struggled harder, and accidently hit him on the side with her elbow. Natsume grunted and let go of her. "They are going to kill him!"

"No they won't!" Natsume tackled her, making her lay on her back on the ground. He sat on her and locked his arms with his hands. Mikan surprised and stopped talking.

"Listen to me! They won't kill him because he's worth more to them alive. He can be used to threaten us. Thrust me they won't kill him unless you do what you're thinking of doing."

"How do you know that?"

"Because it's happened to me countless times! With the same people behind it. Why do you think that that news even made it out on TV, when the ESP controls just about everything? Persona isn't so stupid as to drag your grandfather out on the open street in pure daylight with all the neighbours watching. Persona knows a lot about you. He knows that if you saw your grandfather in danger then you would just rush there, right into his trap. If he has you then he has me to. Now that the deal is gone nothing is going to stop him from using all of us as he pleases."

"But what about my grandfather? I won't just leave him!"

"You won't have to! We'll save him, we just need a plan." Natsume let his arms go slack and fell on top of Mikan. "Sorry…"

"Are you okay Natsume?"

"Yeah… just tired."

"I'm sorry for wearing you down."

"It's okay. It's not your fault you're stupid."

"Natsume! You mean fox! Get off of me!"

"Am I too heavy for you?" He asked mockingly.

"Yes. Your enormous weight is squashing me like a bug."

"You just need a few more muscles. You're getting weak."

"Am not!"

"Oh, right you're the same as always."

"Idiot!"

"Stupid!"

"Mean fox!"

"Idiot strawberries!"

"Would you 2 cut it out? In case you've forgot: The school is rebelling. You have a plan Natsume?" Subaru asked.

"Yeah, but first things first. Do you have some food? I'm starving."

Everyone looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Okay, let's go. You've got everything ready?" Subaru asked Natsume and Mikan.

"Of course. Let go kick some academy ass." Mikan joked, Natsume just settled for a nod.

"Natsume remember that the healing I gave you won't last forever. Sometime or another your Alice is going to start killing you again. So don't use if unless it's absolutely necessary. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"And you probably already noticed when Mikan hit your wound that it isn't quite healed. Be careful with it."

"Did I hit your wound?"

"Yeah, why else did you think I let go of you?"

"Sorry. It wasn't on purpose. Did it hurt much?"

"Enough to make me let go of you."

"Sorry."

"Okay let's go. We have a lot of work to do." Subaru said and held out his hand. Natsume laid his on top of it and then Mikan with her teleportation Alice. They were planning to teleport to just outside the barrier, then they could walk through. Mikan activated the Alice stone of teleportation, and readied the barrier Alice stone. It was crucial that Persona and the ESP didn't know they were there, until it was time. They teleported.

The air became clear around them as they stood at the entrance. The press were lined up just outside the academy, trying to get news of what was going on inside the academy. Natsume, Mikan and Subaru pushed their way through the crowd until they were standing at the edge of the barrier. Mikan used her Alice to make a hole for then to get through.

"Activate the barrier Alice." Natsume told Mikan.

"It's activated. They won't know what hit them."

After they had walked a little while the school came into sight. It was a horrifying sight; the school was in flames and partially destroyed. Students were running around and fighting the ESP's henchmen.

"Let's teleport."

They teleported to Yukihira's office, to get information of the whereabouts of Mikan's grandfather. But when they saw the room wrecked and destroyed they knew that they would have to find the whereabouts on their own.

"I hope uncle managed to escape."

"If he didn't then he will probably be the same place as your grandfather, we'll just free him." Natsume said.

"Do you have any idea of where the ESP would take them, Natsume?" Subaru asked.

"Either to the middle school basement or his headquarters. If I should bet on one of them then it would be his headquarters."

"Then let's try that first."

"Ok. I'm going in first to lure Persona out of the building. Remember to slip in unnoticed and get out via the tunnel that leads under the school. It starts in the basement and ends outside the premises. No one knows of this passageway except me ad a couple others, remember to keep the secret if you can."

"Okay. How are you going to handle Persona?"

"I'll try to shake him off. If it doesn't work then I guess I'll have to fight him."

"I don't like that plan."

"There isn't any other way. None of you 2 can do it, and we need to get Persona away from the building so that your grandfather and probably your uncle don't get hurt. I hope I'll meet up with you guys at the end of the tunnel, but if I don't make it then just go without me." Natsume said.

"I won't do that! You'll get trapped in the academy." Mikan shouted at him, pounding him on the arm.

"Come back for me. The first priority is getting your grandfather and uncle out of the academy."

"Fine." Mikan pouted, "and Natsume if you die then I'll kill you."

"You're so stupid Polka, you can't kill someone who's dead." He smiled at her and dragged her into his arms holding her for a moment before letting go. "I will come back."

"Thank you."

"But, you'll be in as much danger as I will. So you have to be careful too, both of you. Promise me to stick to the plan and don't do anything stupid." Natsume said looking at Mikan and directing the last words to her.

"I never do anything stupid." She said seriously.

"And my father is the moon." Natsume replied ironically.

"Are you ready you 2, or are you just going to talk through the night?" Subaru asked impatiently.

"Let's go." Natsume said.

They ran towards that ESP's headquarters. Halfway there Natsume split up from the 2 others and ran further ahead than them. The plan was that he would cause chaos and then Mikan and Subaru could slip in unnoticed with their barrier around them.

Natsume ran inside the building. Guards ran towards him from both sides, but he didn't even need to use his Alice to beat them. He passed through the hall and onward towards an entrance that led to the stair that went upstairs. Natsume knew the place inside out from being here so many times. He took the in 10 steps; he was feeling quite breathless when he came to the top floor so he took a short break to breathe. When he was done, he walked to the door at the far end of the corridor. This was the principles office. Natsume opened the door. The sight that met him was Mikan's uncle and grandfather tied up in the room, but there wasn't anyone else.

_Something is wrong here – Natsume thought._

He hurried over and tied their ropes up, first Yukihira's then Mikan's grandfathers.

"Natsume. Get out of here it's a trap!" Yukihira yelled, but it was too late. The door slammed shut and inside stood Persona…

Mikan walked through the corridor. Natsume had done a splendid job of clearing the path for them, although it was a little distressful to walk around surrounded by unconscious henchmen.

"When is he going to give us signal?"

"When he's ready. Let's just wait here until we get it."

"I don't like it something could be wrong."

"Come on Mikan just sit down. Trust him."

"Hey Natsume. I was waiting for you to show up. Nice of you to be here."

"What do you want Persona?"

"I want to have a fair fight. That's why I asked a certain someone if he or she would put an extra strong barrier around this room, so strong that even you couldn't use your Alice."

"How can it be a fair fight when they are here? I'm going to be afraid if you hit them and probably try to stop them from getting hurt. How about you let them go Persona?"

"You're right they can be quite annoying. They could interfere with the fight and all that… But to let them go, I don't think so. How about we make this a little more interesting?" Persona went over to the wall and opened a cabinet. Inside it was a small bomb set to fire in 20 minutes. "See a lot more interesting."

"What the hell!" Natsume stared worriedly at the bomb as the time shifted from 20 to 19 minutes, then he glanced at Mikan's grandfather and uncle. They were both still tied around their hands and feat.

_How the hell am I supposed to get them out and win over Persona in only 19 minutes?_

"To make it even more interesting. I'm the only one that can get out of this door."

"That's not interesting! That's impossible!" Natsume shouted angrily at Persona.

"Exactly. The more time you use on talking with me, the more the bomb will advance."

"You bastard!"

Natsume lunged at Persona trying to kick him out the door. Personas dodged and punched Natsume in the side, just were his wound had been. Natsume grunted and fell back a little. Any more of that and his wound would end up opening again.

"That's a dirty trick Persona. Even me who doesn't expect much from you, that was just a little bit cowardly."

"Oh, sorry. Was that were your wound was?"

"Oh spare me. You know exactly were my wound was."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry Natsume I've found out that playing only with the rules doesn't give you any benefit."

They exchanged blows, each of them hitting an equal amount of times. Natsume was just a little bit more hurt than Persona because every single blow Persona landed was on his wounded side. The wound had already opened and was causing Natsume a great deal of pain every time he moved.

_Shit, there's only 10 minutes left I have to end this before the time runs out._

Natsume knew there was only one way. He let himself get hit by Persona, did nothing to evade, he stood his ground and then he used that moment when Persona was completely open to kick him with all he had, making Persona tumble out through the door.

It had, though, cost Natsume greatly. He fell down to his knees in pain; his side was bleeding through his shirt. He looked up at the bomb; he had 8 minutes to get them out of there without using the door and with an elder man.

Natsume stood up and walked pale-faced over to Yukihira and Mikan's grandfather. He untied them and then went to the window. They were on the second so jumping down was no option. Yukihira came over to him.

"Are you okay?"

Natsume ignored the first question and asked: "How long do we have left?"

"7 minutes."

Natsume coursed inwardly. He opened the window and climbed out onto the balcony. There was not a tree this time but there was another balcony 3,5 meters away, there was a ladder on that balcony. Natsume climbed onto the railing.

"Natsume what are you doing?" Yukihira asked worriedly as he observed were Natsume was staring.

"Planning." Natsume took his jumper off and tied it around his waist, trying to prevent much more bleeding. "How much time do I have?"

"5 minutes." This it was Mikan's grandfather that answered, because he was closest to the bomb.

"Wish me luck." Natsume moved to jump but Yukihira pulled him back down.

"What if you fall?"

"Then I fall. If I don't try then the bomb will just kill us all. Stop wasting the time."

"You're right, sorry."

Natsume got up on the railing again, he took a breath crouched and then he jumped. His hands gripped the edge of the balcony; he winced as his body swung up into the bottom of the balcony. His hands were scraped from holding onto the rough edge. He felt that his wound had opened more, and that warm blood was running down his side. He hung there for a couple of seconds catching his breath and getting ready to pull himself up.

"Come on Natsume you're almost there! You can do it!" Yukihira encouraged him.

Natsume took a deep breath and heaved. He got hold of the first bar on the railing, then the second and the third; he pulled himself up onto the balcony. Natsume got up onto his feet. He has feeling a little dizzy from blood loss, that wasn't a good thing considering it was only a couple of days ago that he was almost dying.

Natsume grabbed hold of the ladder and put it across the 2 railings like a bridge.

"Mikan's grandfather, you go first." Natsume said and held onto the ladder.

"I'm not as young as I have been you know."

"It's either this or death. What do you choose? I'm sure Mikan wouldn't be happy if you died." Natsume said with only a hint of a threat in his voice.

Mikan's grandfather got onto the ladder and slowly made his way across. Natsume helped him down on the balcony.

"See how much time we have left and then cross." Natsume ordered Yukihira.

"3 minutes! I'm coming!"

Yukihira was quicker than Mikan's grandfather, so he was soon across. Of course to top it all off, the door to go inside was locked. Natsume checked under the pots for a key, but there wasn't one.

"It can't be helped." Natsume sighed and got ready to kick the glass.

"Wait! Can I do it?" Yukihira asked.

"I'll give you 3 tries, after that we need to get inside."

"Fine." Yukihira kicked the first time, nothing happened. The second time nothing happened. The third time he managed to get a scratch on the glass.

"Okay, my turn." Natsume said quietly, he knew it was going to hurt but he still did it. The glass shattered and Yukihira could stick his arm inside and lock it up.

"Let's go inside." Yukihira looked at first Mikan's grandfather and then at Natsume. Natsume was leaning against the doorframe panting and clutching his side. His face was pale. "Natsume! How badly are you hurt? Let's get you inside." Yukihira put Natsume's arm around his shoulders and dragged Natsume inside the room. They went into the bathroom and locked the door.

"How badly are you hurt?" Yukihira started unwrapping Natsume's jumper from his side. It was sticky with blood. Yukihira and Mikan's grandfather looked shocked at Natsume's side.

"How could you do that with this?" Mikan's grandfather asked.

"…Training."

BOOM! The bomb blew taking the whole room they had just been in with it and some of the balcony Natsume had jumped onto. The ground shook, and the light in the ceiling of the bathroom swayed from side to side.

"Just in time, eh?" Natsume muttered.

"Yeah. What are we supposed to do about you?"

"Look inside my pocket…"

Yukihira bent down and put his hand in Natsume's pocket. In it was Subaru's healing stone and a couple of pills.

"Put the pills back… I don't need them."

"Now's not the time to be tough, just take the pill's."

"You misunderstand me… Those pills are for my Alice… They won't have any effect if I take them now…"

"Oh, …right." Yukihira put the pills back and started healing Natsume with the healing stone.

"Boy? What's your name?" Mikan's grandfather asked Natsume.

"My name… is Natsume Hyuuga."

"I would like to thank you for helping us?"

"You're welcome."

"Do you know Mikan? Is she alright?"

"Yeah, I know her… She's my girlfriend. Wait a minute…" Natsume took a cell phone up from his pocket and dialled Mikan's number.

"_Natsume! Are you okay? We saw the explosion."_

"We had a slight change of planes… but we made it out in time."

"_Where are you? You sound hurt!"_

"I'm in the building just across from the headquarters… With your grandfather and Yukihira…"

"_Natsume what happened?"_

"I'll tell you later… Let's meet up in front of the tunnel in 15 minutes."

"_Fine. Are you hurt?"_

"Persona managed to open my wound again…"

"…_How about my grandfather and uncle?"_

"They're both fine… Do you want to talk to your grandfather…?"

"_Yeah I would like that. And Natsume, thank you."_

"Your welcome."

"_I love you."_

"Love you too… See you guys in 15."

Natsume handed the phone to Mikan's grandfather; tears welled up in his eyes as he heard her voice.

"Are you sure you'll be ready in 15 minutes?" Yukihira asked Natsume.

"Yeah… It's fine. We need to get you 2 out of here as soon as possible…"

"But, this is just healing so slowly."

"Heal it as much as you can given the time… Just put bandage around it then I can always walk with the stone."

"We're going to walk there. I was sure you were going to run or something."

"I would rather run… But I don't think my side is up for it…" Natsume smiled ironically, "plus I have you and Mikan's grandfather to think about…"

"Are we a burden for you?"

"Yes."

"You're awfully forward."


	7. The plan

"We need to get going. Grandfather can you say to Mikan that we're leaving soon."

Mikan's grandfather told that to Mikan and then hung up. He gave the cell phone back to Natsume. Then he took the first aid kit down from the shelf and handed it to Yukihira. Yukihira put bandage around Natsume's side and on his hands, which were pretty torn from holding onto the balcony. Then Yukihira helped Natsume get up.

"Did Mikan say anything important?" Natsume asked Mikan's grandfather.

"Not really. She said that we should trust you."

"That's just typically her." Natsume said and shook his head, "come on, let's go"

They made it out the door and continued down.

"You want to know how this chaos started?" Yukihira asked Natsume.

"Yeah, but talk quietly." Natsume muttered as he looked around a corner to see if there was anyone.

"I finished reading your diary, it had enough evidence against the ESP that I wanted to drag him to a trial. I told him that and since he knew he would lose this is him trying to escape from the academy."

"Okay." Natsume looked around another corner; there were enemies in the hall. "Wait here." He whispered to them.

Natsume walked soundlessly into the corridor and took the first guy down before he noticed that Natsume was there, unfortunately someone turned around the second he did and shouted to the others. This gave them time to find their guns. Natsume took them down one by one by punching them in the neck while he dodged bullets.

"You can come out now." Natsume said after he checked all the rooms in the corridor for more people.

There were 10 people lying around in the corridor, when Yukihira and Mikan's grandfather stepped inside it.

"…Are they dead?" Yukihira asked.

"No. They're just unconscious."

"What kind of monster are you?" Mikan's grandfather asked as he stared at Natsume, and then down on the bodies.

"Take that back. You have no idea the kind of life he's lead!" Yukihira said angrily.

"Yukihira stop, it's fine." Natsume sighed tiredly.

"It most certainly is not! If he had any idea what kind of life you've had!"

"Yukihira, stop! He doesn't have any idea, and we don't have the time to stand here and talk about it! Just leave it be!" Natsume requested and coughed.

"But-"

"I don't care what you call me," Natsume directed his words to Mikan's grandfather, "But remember what Mikan said. She said to trust me. I ask the same now, please trust me to get us out of here."

"I trust what my granddaughter said. Sorry my temper got the best of me."

"It's okay. I'm used to it."

"What kind of life have you had?" Mikan's grandfather asked curiously.

"…"

"One that I hope no one will have ever again." Yukihira answered as he saw Natsume giving no move to answer the question.

"Come on we've already wasted too much time here." Natsume said impatiently and started walking towards the exit. The others followed him.

"Aren't they supposed to be here by now?" Mikan asked as she waited, for Natsume and the others, at the tunnel.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon."

"How can you be so sure?"

Just as Mikan said this, the door swung open and Natsume, Yukihira and her grandfather came inside.

"Natsume!" Mikan ran towards him and threw her arms around him forgetting that he was wounded. Natsume grunted as the force of her hug knocked but of them down.

"Ugh, get off." Natsume said painfully, Mikan realised she had landed on his side.

"Sorry! Sorry, are you okay?" Mikan asked as she got off him.

"Considering you just landed on me…"

"Sorry!"

"I'll live." Natsume said as he sat up.

Mikan smiled at him then went over to her grandfather; she had tears in her eyes as she hugged him. After that she went over to her uncle and hugged him.

"I'm glad all 3 of you are okay."

"We can thank Natsume for that." Yukihira said and looked over at Natsume. Subaru was inspecting his wound, making Natsume hiss every time he touched it.

"How did they find out what we were going to do?" Mikan asked Natsume.

"I don't know. Maybe Persona just knows me too well."

"Okay I need to know. Can we trust Natsume?" Mikan's grandfather asked.

"Of course, why shouldn't we?" Mikan asked thinking the distrust was weird.

"He's too good at fighting and hurting people and now you say he knew Persona?"

"And there is a reason for that, I will tell when we have time. For now please just trust him. There is no one I trust more in the whole world than Natsume." Mikan said, "He is against Persona more than anyone."

"How can you know that? How can you be sure?"

Mikan went over to Natsume and tugged his shirt a little.

Natsume knowing what she was about to do said: "Mikan stop, it isn't necessary."

"Yes, it is and you know it." She pulled Natsume's shirt up over his bandage and further revealing all of Natsume's scars. The room grew silent as everyone stared at Natsume's back. At last Mikan let his shirt drop.

"Those scars only reveal a little bit of everything he has went through to protect everyone these past 8 years. I don't want to hear any more of you not trusting Natsume, or not trusting me when I say to trust him. I'm sure he doesn't care if you trust him or not because he's lived with not trusting anyone. But I can't stand here and do nothing when after everything he went through he gets treated like that. I love you grandpa, but I love Natsume too please understand this."

"I'm sorry. Can you forgive me Natsume?"

"As Mikan said I don't really care or mind. This is the first time you've met me and I would be more amazed if you had trusted me from the beginning, that is after all pretty stupid. After all I do look suspicious don't I?" Natsume said with a smile a smile on his face. The smile vanished as Mikan hit him on the arm.

"Don't hack yourself down!" Mikan ordered.

Natsume smiled apologetically at her.

"Excuse me but don't you think it's time to get Yukihira and Mikan's grandfather out of here? Where is the tunnel you were talking about Natsume?" Subaru asked.

Natsume went over to the wall and put his hands on it. He pushed the wall and they slowly saw that it was a trapdoor that opened inwardly. You couldn't see it from the outside.

"Here, you better get going. This will lead you outside the academy." Natsume took a torch down from the wall and lit it. He gave the torch to Yukihira.

"Make sure you capture the ESP Natsume." They went inside the tunnel and closed the trapdoors.

All three of them looked at each other.

"Yukihira told why the chaos started. It was because he finished reading my diary and found out that there was enough evidence in it to put the ESP in a trial. Since the ESP knows that he will lose if he comes to a trial he is now trying to escape."

"So we just need to capture the ESP, and then he will be on his way to prison in a couple of months?" Mikan asked eagerly.

"Theoretically yes."

"How do we now were the ESP is now?" Subaru asked.

"He probably is were there is most chaos don't you think? Maybe we should try and find Narumi he could know." Mikan suggested.

"Wow you're capable of being smart!" Natsume teased her.

"Shut up Natsume. I can be smart."

"How are we going to find out where there is most chaos?" Subaru asked.

"Lets go up onto the roof then we can get an eye of the situation." Natsume said and moved towards the door, the others were close behind him. They ran up the stairs and onto the roof. There was a hole in the top right corner were the bomb had exploded. The stood and looked over the academy. Fire was rising from the preschool building and students were running away from it. Some of the Northern forest was on fire too, a small part not far from the place bears house was. The ESP's henchmen were using their Alice's against the kids, some of them fighting back and some of them just tried to get away. High school students were protecting the elementary school children and collecting them into groups to go to probably the Middle school shrine.

Suddenly Natsume heard from beside him: "The sakura tree is on fire…" It was Mikan who said that and sure enough when Natsume looked at the direction of the tree the only thing he saw were red flames rising towards the already smoke filled sky. Rage boiled up inside him. That was his and Mikan's place. He knew it wasn't good for their mission to just stand there and stare at the sakura tree so he looked towards the ground and tried to find a big group of people. That's when he spotted a cluster of people standing at the edge of the Northern forest at the part where the flames hadn't come yet. He noticed a small figure being protected by others as teachers attacked them.

_It's got to be there._

Natsume pointed the place out to Subaru and Mikan, both of them nodded and hurried off towards the stairs.

The planes were in chaos as Mikan and Natsume ran through them. Enemies were chasing students, fights were going on all around them and Alice's were running through the air. Subaru had left them a little while ago to go help some injured students. Natsume pulled Mikan behind a tree just as a grenade landed the place they had just been. They ran onward, never losing track of where they were or were the ESP was. They had found out on the way down the roof, to their disappointment, that Mikan's teleportation Alice stone was used up. They had had to run the entire way to reach the ESP before he escaped into the Northern forest.

"Is your wound okay Natsume? With all this running?" Mikan gasped as they ran.

"It's fine, better than I would have expected. Though my reflexes are a bit slower than I would like." Natsume shouted back as another explosion was heard nearby. They could hear someone scream, but they didn't have time to help him or her if they were to catch the ESP. That was the easiest way to end this battle.

They were nearing know, some teachers were trying to fight their way through the henchmen and into the ESP, but they were getting pushed back. Mikan saw Narumi stand in the middle of the crowd and ran over to him. He went with her back to were Natsume stood thinking of a way to break the ESP's ranks.

"Natsume, Mikan. Natsume you're good at tactics aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Do you know a way for us to win?"

"Shut up, I'm thinking." Natsume stood there brooding for a couple of minutes then said: "I think I have something, but I don't know if it will work. Call everyone over here."

"But, what if the ESP escapes while we're over here?"

"Don't worry." Natsume said with a hint of a smile.

Narumi went over to the group and called all the teachers over to them. Some of them complained and said that it was stupid to leave, nut when they heard Natsume had a tactic, they came. Soon everyone was there.

"What's the meaning of this Hyuuga? They're going to escape into the forest!" Jinno said.

"Exactly. What you're doing is stupid and a waste of time. You'll never break their ranks when they outnumber you 5 to 1, and then taking them head on." Natsume shock his head at them. "Let them run into the forest. They can't run with such a large group in there, the trees block their path. What we need to do is break them into groups and take them out then. Use the confusion against them."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Narumi asked.

"If I wanted to split a group then I would make an explosion in the middle of it and then most of them would run in different directions. I don't know all your Alice's or what they're capable of, but you do. If you're a short-range type then stick with attacking the separated groups, if you're a long-range Alice then separate the groups using what means you can think of. It could just be a branch or something, but make them divide. If you have a lovely Alice of traps or plants then make the road harder for them. I don't care."

Natsume took a short break to look up. The ESP and his henchmen were running into the trees as planned.

"Sakurano, I need you to teleport Mikan, some others and me further out into the woods. Serina use that little glass ball of yours to keep track of the ESP. Sakurano when you get back then you will stay here with Serina and tell us the whereabouts of the ESP. Trappers, planters, half of the short range guys and Narumi you're coming with us further out into the forest. The rest of you run after then and split them up. Go now. They're already far ahead."

Half of the group scrambled after them. Sakurano already started teleporting the rest further up the forest.

The air cleared around them as they reached their destination. If Serena's measurements were correct then the ESP and his henchmen would be here in about 20 minutes.

"Trappers and planters you can go a little down the road and start doing what ever you should be doing." Natsume said in a bossy way.

Mikan and Narumi started talking together as everyone beside the trappers and planters settled down.

"You came back, why?" Narumi asked, not believing it. They had been so close to freedom and then they came back.

"The ESP kidnapped my grandpa. We had to come and save him."

"I didn't know that. Is he okay? Have you saved him?"

"Yeah Natsume saved him and uncle. They're safe, and right now they're on their way out of the academy."

"You should have gone with them. It would have been safer."

"Yeah, be we couldn't just leave the academy on the state of chaos we found it in, could we? And now we're so close to finally capturing the ESP." Mikan said easily tasting the idea of not having the ESP weighing them down.

"I guess not. Where's Natsume going?" Narumi looked in the direction of Natsume and Mikan turned around just in time to see Natsume walking into the trees.

"I don't know." Mikan got up and walked after Natsume, Narumi following closely behind. The saw Natsume sitting just ahead in a small clearing. He looked in their direction as they stepped out of the trees, not really surprised to see them. He sat up against a tree and watched them take place around him.

"This is a beautiful place. Did you know it?" Narumi asked Natsume.

Natsume stared of into the blue as if recalling a memory. "Yeah, I know it."

"Is that why you chose to have us teleported here? Because you knew the area?"

"Yeah. It's a good place to fight, hide and chase." He said with a blank expression.

"Is that what you know this place from?"

"Yeah."

Natsume took a branch up from the ground and bean sketching the area they were in, in the dirt.

"Why did you come here Natsume? Why not stay with the group?" Mikan asked him.

"Because I need to clear my head, get away from the noise and sit down."

"Sit down?" Mikan was shocked Natsume never did anything like that in a time like this except if it was absolutely necessary or if he was hurt… That's it.

Mikan crawled over to Natsume's side and lifted his shirt up. There was blood on the bandage.

"You opened it again."

"Nope. It never closed." Natsume said still concentrating on drawing in the sand.

"I thought you had healed it before you came to the tunnel."

"Nope, didn't have time for it."

"You had time. You just thought it would be better to get them out a bit earlier and not to worry about yourself. You have time now, heal it." Mikan said as she returned to her spot on the grass.

Natsume held up his hand and showed her the glow of Subaru's Alice stone inside it. "I'm already doing it."

"Is that why you decided to be teleported and not run after them? I thought it was weird you were the only long-range Alice going with us." Narumi said.

"Yeah, mostly."

"Will you be able to fight?"

"Yeah. I'll fight if it's necessary, but other than that I'll leave you to it." Natsume said tiredly and drew the last line on his sketch. "This is everything I remember accurately from the area."

"You have a very good memory Natsume." Narumi said astonished as he looked at the drawing. It had the exact positions of every tree in about 500 meters in every direction from the camp.

"We're here." He said and pointed at the place, "the ESP and the rest of his henchmen will probably come through here if there are any left. Which, considering the amount of people I sent out to hunt them, there will be. There are traps and so on, in this area. When the rest of them come through the bushes to us we have to hold are ground. We can't afford to be pushed that much backwards, if we do that then we'll just end up out of the forest again."

"We won't let them get past us." Narumi said determined.

"That's the spirit."

Suddenly Sakurano's voice sounded in their heads. _They're nearing your place get ready._

_How many are there? – Natsume thought to him._

_They're cut in half._

_Only?_

_Yeah, it didn't go as well as we would have hoped._

Sakurano's voice disappeared and they were alone again. Natsume sprang to his feet after he had put the stone into his pocket again. Then he ran of towards where everyone else was.

"I should have gone with them. This isn't enough!" He shouted angrily as they ran.

They came into the clearing at the same time as the trappers and planters.

"Are you the last ones?" Natsume asked them.

"Yes."

"Teachers of the academy!" Natsume shouted to the crowd. "Now is the time to strike. Now it's your chance to save the future students from the same kind of suffering we went through growing up! Letting the ESP win over us is the same as condemning the future children to a fate worse than ours! If the ESP wins then he will fire all of you and hire some worse teachers to make life of the students even more miserable than this one! The ESP will be here soon and he will strike hard, be prepared for that. This is about his future too. But we can win! Every single teacher in the academy are standing here ready to fight. So I say let them come! Now is not the time for fear, it's the time for courage! The only thing we need to do is capture the ESP! Now is the time to fight! Ready your Alice's! We won't go down without a fight and we sure as hell won't go down! We'll win! For future students! For teachers of the academy! For students past and present! For parents! Family! Friends! For the people who have already died trying to kill he ESP, we will fight. Keep those names in your head, and keep them there. If we win, we win for them! There may be a time when we will die, but it will not be this day! The academy might crumble and we forsake all the students, but it will not be this day! This day we fight!" Natsume's encouraging voice had such great authority in it that even though he only was 16 years old. He still made the teachers believe in him. Most of them had known what he had been through.

"Yes!" They shouted back at him.

"Great." Natsume went over to the side and stood beside Narumi at the edge of the clearing.

"You're good at speeches."

"Of course I am. Let's just hope that I'm right."

"Yeah."

They all turned around as they heard people running through the forest just up ahead. Soon people came pushing through the trees. Some of the ESP's henchmen, apparently the ESP was further behind. Some of them had scratches probably from all the traps and plants on the way there. They overpowered the henchmen 10 to 1, but the real army was yet to come. They knocked all of them out and pulled them over to the side, out of harms way.

"This is why I love fighting in a forest." Natsume said.

"Why?"

"Because people can't show up at the same time. Of course it has its downsides, like your enemy could sneak past you, but that's not an issue when we have Sakurano and Serena on our side."

"Yeah you're right. Let's just hope it keeps going like this."

Natsume's sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps from the forest.

"They're coming again. And this time there are more of them. Mikan?"

Mikan came towards Natsume and asked "What?"

"They may need your nullification for this one. Are you ready?"

"Always." Mikan said with determination, Natsume smiled at that.

"Get ready!" He shouted as the noise came nearer.

The enemies ran into the clearing, where everyone stood ready to fight. It took them a moment to eye the situation then they began to fire their Alice's at each other and fight. Natsume held to the background fighting anyone who managed to get past their lines, but other than that he just stood there watching, ready to act if they needed it. He noticed that to the right people were retreating slowly. He ran over to Narumi who stood in the group.

"What's going on?" Natsume had to yell, for his voice to be heard over the noise of the battle.

"They're starting to find their guns!" Narumi yelled back at him.

"Guns?" Natsume said a little disheartened then he pushed through the group, not stopping until he was at the very front. He ran into the open space right before the first man who pulled the gun. Natsume kicked the gun out of his hands, and picked it up. He ran behind a tree as the others pointed their guns at him. Narumi ran to him.

He saw Natsume searching in his pocket. "What are you looking for?"

"How about we scare them a bit? The ESP isn't with them anyway, we don't need to waste our time." Natsume said and found a special bullet. He put the bullet in the gun.

"Can you shoot?" Narumi asked worried.

Natsume smiled at him and took aim. "Of course. I'm actually very good at it. Just never used my skills." Natsume concentrated for a couple of seconds and then he pulled the trigger. The bullet blazed with fire as it left the gun, it avoided touching everyone and ended up in a tree. Though the ones who had stood close to if, got a little burned.

"Next time I won't miss." Natsume said and readied the gun. He would have shot if not everyone had run back into the forest where they came from. The teachers made a move to follow them but Natsume said: "No don't, let them go."

The teachers cheered a little and went back to the edge of the clearing to wait for the next attack.

Natsume's breath caught in his throat as pain suddenly burned in his chest. His vision went black as he almost passed out from pain. When he came to after a couple of minutes he was on his knees in the grass, with Narumi holding him up. He steadied his breathing and ignored the now dull pain in his chest. Narumi saw that he was back and let go.

"Thanks." Natsume muttered as he sat down with his back against the tree.

"No problem. I don't think Mikan noticed." As Narumi said that Natsume looked at Mikan. She was talking with some other teachers. "What was wrong? Was it your side? Has it opened?"

"No. My Alice."

"But you only used your Alice a little!"

"Yeah, well apparently it was a little too much."

"Then you shouldn't have done it."

"That way no one got hurt."

"You did!"

"Only temporarily. I'm as good as before now." Natsume said and closed his eyes.

"It's not like you were in good shape before. And you're clearly in a little worse shape now. Your face is paler, that means you're just suppressing the pain."

"You want me to not suppress it?" He said tiredly keeping his eyes closed.

"Will you get better if you don't?"

"Do you think I will feel better by feeling pain? Or not?"

"Not. How do you suppress it?"

"Years of practice. I still feel it, just not as bad." Natsume said and took the pills out of his pocket. He swallowed them.

"Why don't you sleep Natsume? You will need your strength, I'll wake when something happens."

Natsume nodded and laid down. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep immediately.


	8. The song

Narumi looked in the direction of the trees. He wondered when they would attack again, if they would wait enough for Natsume to get a little sleep. Jinno came towards him and sat down.

He looked over at Natsume. "Is Hyuuga okay?"

"He's not doing so well. I hope he can rest a little before the next fight, but I don't know."

"Is he sleeping or unconscious?"

"Sleeping."

"Good, we'll need him in the upcoming battle." Jinno said.

"Isn't there any way that we can just let him sleep through the battle?"

"Sorry, I know he is your student and you feel responsible for what's happened to him. But we need him in the fight. There aren't many teachers here who have much experience with fighting. We need him if we're going to win."

"But, he's only a child." Narumi protested.

"He's sixteen. And considering everything he's been through I wouldn't categorise him as a child."

"Because of everything he's been through I don't think we can ask anymore of him. Besides he's hurt and his Alice…"

"I'm not asking him to fight at the front. We just need him to lead us and step in if necessary, like last time. Is he hurt?"

Narumi crawled over to Natsume and pulled his shirt up gently, trying not to wake him. Halfway through Natsume flinched. Narumi froze but Natsume made no further movements. He quietly pulled his shirt higher revealing Natsume's bloody bandage. It looked worse than before, probably from the kick he made. Jinno flinched as he saw it.

"What are you doing?" Mikan's voice sounded from behind them.

Narumi and Jinno jumped in surprise "Shh! You'll wake him." They said.

Mikan just laughed. "He woke up a long time ago. Natsume stop pretending to be asleep."

"Damn Mikan, you blew my cover." Natsume said smiling and opened his eyes. Jinno and Narumi jumped in surprise.

"Natsume! How long have you been awake?" They shrieked.

"Since Jinno sat down."

"That means through the whole time."

"Pretty much." Natsume said and sat up, flinching a little bit.

"Why didn't you tell us you were awake?" Jinno asked him, still getting over the shock.

"I was having a fun time listening what you to were saying." He said and fished the healing Alice stone out of his pocket. "I think the flinch while you 2 were harassing me was brilliant."

Narumi getting a little embarrassed changed the subject, "you were supposed to sleep Natsume."

"I did sleep for a couple of minutes. You 2 were to loud for me to sleep."

"We weren't that loud." Narumi protested.

"Natsume is a very, very light sleeper. I swear one time I raised my hand and he was awake." Mikan said jokingly. It had been a relatively long time since Natsume had just slept and wasn't unconscious or on pills.

"One of my many reflexes, see that hand that you lifted could have punched me." Natsume joked. Or at least made it sound like a joke, he knew that the sleeping matter had been made after all the times someone had attacked him when he was still in bed sleeping.

Suddenly Sakurano's voice sounded in their heads again.

_They are coming. You have 20 minutes._

"Jinno, Narumi, Mikan come with me." Natsume said as he stood up and walked into the trees. They kept walking until they came to a big oak tree.

"This tree belongs to the dangerous ability class, catch the things I throw down." Natsume told them and moved towards the tree.

"Wait, Natsume why don't I do it? Can you climb with your side?" Narumi suggested.

"I have to do it, it's safer that way, and there are traps all way up to stop anyone from stealing." Natsume said and grabbed onto the lowest branch and pulled himself up. He scowled as his side began to protest and hurt. Then he began to chant.

"Up you go, 2 to the left, avoid a third, but take a forth. Dodge." Natsume dodged just as arrows came flying out of the tree.

"Natsume! That's dangerous!" Mikan shrieked worriedly.

"You're breaking my concentration! Where was I? Oh, yeah." Natsume went on chanting. "Hang count to 10, then up. Careful, careful or it's going to be stop." Natsume gripped the next branch and let himself hang there. A second after spikes up from the lower branch and more arrows flew out from the tree trunk just inches over his fingers. After that he carefully pulled himself onto the next branch careful not to touch anything other than the spot he had touched with his fingers.

"How long time do I have left?"

"Plenty, just be careful!"

"Here you stand, take a break nothings coming your way, safe. When you're done, watch the gun, 2 steps if you dare, then dodge on a hair." Natsume took a deep breath then he jumped 2 steps forward so that he laid on his belly on the branch. He just made it before a bullet flew through the air.

"Ouch… If you survived, then you've got to try, don't die. Take no step or it will be your last. Now is the time to swing, bet you wish you had wings." Natsume got up onto the branch and used it as a kind of monkey bar to get to the other side.

"Up on the next branch, now it gets tricky. Run like the wind or it will blow you away. Now you are here to stay, we can no longer play." Natsume quickly got up onto the next branch, then he ran as fast as he could to the other end then he made a somersault to get onto the next one. Not a moment to soon, a quick wind made out of Hayate's wind Alice stone soon blew on the lower branch. If Natsume had been there he would have been blown away.

"We only have 15 minutes left Natsume!" Narumi shouted from down below.

"That's fine." Natsume went to the tree trunk and pushed the code to open the safe. The safe opened revealing bombs, guns and other weapons. "Are you good at catching?"

"Yes." Jinno and Narumi said. Mikan just looked sour, Natsume knew well enough that she was clumsy.

"I'm going to through down bombs and stuff like that so be careful!"

"What!"

"Oh, don't worry we threw with these things all the time. Of course we never dropped them." Natsume said and took a couple of them, "are you ready?"

"As ready as we can be."

Natsume threw the bombs at them luckily they caught them. They kept doing it until the safe was empty.

"That's it. How much time do we have?"

"10 minutes. How're you going to come down?"

"The way down is a matter of air. Jump or you will forever stare. I'm jumping!"

"You can't jump, it's to far! Think about your side."

"There isn't any other way and we don't have time to go down the tree backwards!"

"But-"

Natsume ignored him and got ready to jump.

_This is going to hurt; this is going to hurt really badly. I have to avoid the branches and land as soft as possible. _

Natsume clamped his mouth shut to avoid screaming or biting his tongue. He searched for a place to land. When he found it he took a deep breath and jumped. The ground came toward him quickly as he descended. To break his fall Natsume rolled onto the ground and kept rolling unable to stop, he first stopped when he had gotten about 15 meters away from the tree. Natsume laid on his back in the grass, his eyesight flickered and threatened blacken of pain. His whole side was screaming and he'd sprained something in his left hand, but other than that he was alive. Natsume pushed himself upwards trying to ignore the burning pain in his side. It became to much as he tried to stand, so he fell back again. He looked up to see Narumi, Jinno and Mikan rushing towards him, they'd put the weapons in their jackets that they carried between them

They reached him after a little time he had rolled far.

"Natsume, are you okay?" Narumi asked breathlessly.

"I've been worse. Jinno and Narumi you need to run to camp with those weapons and bombs. Give them to people who've tried to use one before. I'll come in a couple of minutes."

"Are you sure?"

"Go, hurry you don't have much time!" After that they hurried off.

When they had gone Natsume fell down onto his back groaning. Mikan rushed to his side.

"How bad is it?" She asked.

"I can't fight, unless it is absolutely crucial, but I can tell them what to do." He said strained.

Mikan lifted his now bloody shirt and stared at the blood-soaked bandages. "Do you have some new bandage?"

"Yeah it's in my left pocket."

Mikan got the bandage and the healing stone, and began to unwrap the old bandage. Natsume hissed in pain as she came too close to his wound.

"Sorry…" Mikan said concentrated, she began using the stone after she'd unwrapped the rest of the bandages. It was healing slowly.

"This is taking to long." Natsume muttered.

"We have to heal it, you're loosing too much blood."

"Insert it. That way it will heal faster."

"Are you sure? That means you can't use it anymore."

"Yeah, just do it."

Mikan held the stone out before Natsume's side, and activated her inserting Alice. The stone absorbed into Natsume, and as it went in his side healed. Natsume ran his hand over his hip, but everything he felt was smooth skin. His mind cleared as pain left his system. He flexed his hand and felt that it had healed his wrist as well. The aftereffects of his Alice also dimmed, which was a relief.

"How do you feel?" Mikan asked curiously.

"Better than I've been for months. Let's go." Natsume stood up and ran towards the clearing they had come from. Mikan followed close behind watching Natsume with a smile on her lips.

"What's taking them so long?" Jinno asked nervously, if they weren't here in time for the battle…

"Natsume got hurt badly. He was in pain when he told us to go." Narumi answered.

"He didn't seem to be in pain."

"That's the thing with Natsume. You have to look very closely to see it. His eyes gave him away this time they were darker than usual. Plus he couldn't even stand up. How do you expect him to come quickly?"

The other teachers were looking around nervously, not sure of what to do. They needed Natsume to come and give them directions.

"Jinno! Narumi!" Natsume's voice sounded behind them. They looked back and saw Mikan and him striding into the clearing. "Have you given the weapons out?"

"Yes, but there aren't many who've tried to use them before." Jinno answered.

"That's fine as long as they don't shoot anyone on our side." Natsume stopped and looked over the teachers, frowning as he saw how they stood. "Are you completely useless?" He asked Jinno and Narumi.

"…"

"Okay form up! Short range up front, long range in the back! Quickly now, if you don't want your enemies to wipe you out before you can lift a finger!" Natsume yelled at them. They found their positions as quickly as possible. "That's more like it! Short range first start attacking when they are relatively close. Long range, just do what you can, but watch out with hitting any on our side! Those with big bombs fire them in the start. Small bombs, fire them when you want but make sure the path is clear of teachers. Anyone remember our purpose with this fight?"

"To catch the ESP." Someone in the back said.

"Exactly! So that means no killing him!" Natsume started to walk back to Mikan.

"Do you think there's a chance that we are going to win?" Someone asked, and everyone else fell quiet to here Natsume's reply.

"Stupid! Of course there's a chance! I've fought battles worse than this one and won. Of course I was with some people who could actually fight!" Natsume mocked. The teachers began exclaiming and shouting at him.

"Shut up!" Everyone stopped as Natsume shouted back at them, "if you can fight then this will be a good chance to prove it."

Natsume walked back to were Jinno, Narumi and Mikan stood.

"They'll be here soon." Natsume said.

"Are we ready to meet them?" Jinno asked him.

"Yeah." Natsume replied. Feeling contented Jinno walked away to stand on his place in the 'army'.

"You seem like you're free of pain. You're still pale though." Narumi said studying Natsume's face.

"Yeah. Mikan inserted the healing stone into me, but I think I lost too much blood before she could do it. I feel a little lightheaded."

"Don't overexert yourself."

They heard footsteps nearing them, and soon The ESP's henchmen came running into the clearing. The teachers began throwing bombs at them after they'd made sure the ESP wasn't among them. Everyone covered their ears as the bombs blew, the ground shock beneath their feet, and fire blew up into the sky. As the smoke cleared they saw that half of them had managed to run into the forest. To afraid to come out before the backup came.

They only had to wait or about 10 minutes, for the henchmen came into the clearing again. This time there were many of them.

"Stop!" One of the henchmen stepped forward. "If you move one inch, then I will kill this student!" The crowd scrambled to make room for a man who came dragging a student with him.

Mikan gasped. "Yoichi?"

Yoichi's hands were bond behind his back and he looked weak, like he was going to faint at any moment. The henchman put his gun on Yoichi's temple.

"Put your weapons on the ground!" He shouted everyone followed his command fearing what would happen to Yoichi if they didn't. "The ESP will give you this fellow if you give him something he wants!"

"And what would that be?" Some teacher asked.

"Him!" The man pointed his finger at Natsume. "There's no mistake, the one with the red eyes."

Everyone turned their heads towards Natsume, he didn't look shocked or anything. Then he took a step forward. Mikan grabbed his hand.

"Mikan I have to do this." Natsume whispered back at her.

Mikan hugged him and whispered back, "I know, be careful." Then she let go and he went on. He kept going until he stood before the man and Yoichi. They were removing the rope around his hands. When it was gone Yoichi fell forward, he would have hit the ground if Natsume hadn't caught him.

"Natsume nii-chan…" Yoichi's weak voice muttered.

"Let someone come and pick him up." Natsume demanded.

"No way you walked, that means he walks."

"That's why it's called an exchange. I come over to this side, and he comes over to that side. If he can't walk then how do you expect him to do that? You got what you wanted, now help him back!" Natsume said furiously.

"Look here folks we've caught a wild cat!" All the henchmen laughed at that. "He can crawl back!"

"I wonder how the ESP feels about his henchmen dirtying his name? After all this is done in his name." Natsume said.

"Shut up!" The man hit Natsume over the head, "you to over there. Bring that other boy over to the other side!"

The to men took Yoichi out of Natsume's arms and dragged him over to the first row of teachers who took him from them quickly.

"You satisfied?" The man asked as Natsume stood up again.

"Pretty much." Natsume said emotionlessly.

He looked back at the other henchmen. "Tie him up fellows!"

They forced Natsume down on his knees as they wrapped the rope tightly around his wrists. As well as checking if he had some hidden weapons on him. Then they tugged the rope hardly, which made Natsume fall a little forward.

"Come on get up!" The man kicked his stomach making him fall down again. "Get up!"

This time Natsume sprang up before he could kick him again. As they dragged him onwards, he looked back at Mikan and gave her a rare smile before they pulled him further into the forest.

**With Mikan**

"Yoichi!" Mikan ran forward after the henchmen had disappeared from sight into the forest. Yoichi was lying in the middle of a group of teachers. "Are you okay?"

"Mikan… Sorry because of me, Natsume…"

"Shh… It's not your fault. Are you hurt?" Mikan looked at him. He had bruises everywhere, but other than that he didn't look hurt.

"Not really. I just overused my Alice."

"You don't have the forth type do you?"

"No… My Alice just takes too much energy." He closed his eyes.

Mikan sighed in relief. "Thank God, it's just that. You can sleep now."

"But, Natsume."

"I'm sure he'll be fine, besides you can't help him with your condition. Sleep Yoichi."

"Why did he do it?" Yoichi asked Mikan tiredly.

"Because you're like a little brother to him. Plus he is in better condition to escape from them than you right now."

"No he isn't, Mikan his Alice it's-"

"It's fine. Sleep."

Yoichi exhausted as he was finally succumbed to sleep.

**With Natsume**

"Walk quicker!" The man pulled Natsume's rope, making it cut into his wrists.

"I can't wait to show the ESP the cat we've caught! I bet he'll give us prize for catching him. Without this guy those teachers will probably be weak and ready to strike down."

_You wish. Yoichi knows about as many tactics as I do, after he has slept he'll take my place. But still I have to get back as soon as possible; it would be bad if I came face to face with the ESP. – Natsume thought._

Natsume tried to make a small flame in his hands to burn the ropes off. He felt the energy leave his body but the flame didn't come. Suddenly something beeped in the crowd.

"He's using his Alice. Get him on the ground!"

Natsume fought against them but even he couldn't beat ten people with ropes binding his hands. They forced him down on the ground, and 4 of them held his arms and legs in place, making it impossible to move.

"Well well well trying to escape are we? Too bad that the rope on your hands prevents you from using your Alice. They also tell me when you're trying." He kicked Natsume hard in the stomach. "I don't think the ESP will mind if we hurt him a little. Who's next?"

The made a circle around Natsume.


	9. The interrogation

**With Mikan**

"I can't believe we lost the one thing that could win us this battle!" Jinno said angrily.

"Is that your only concern?" Narumi asked furiously.

"What else should I be concerned about?"

"Natsume's wellbeing!" Narumi barked at him.

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

"You're. Sure. He'll. Be. Fine?" Narumi said disgustingly, and slapped him. After that Jinno got ready to electrify him, but Mikan stepped in between them.

"Stop it!" She said angrily, "This is not the time to be fighting!"

Jinno snorted and went over to the other teachers.

"I know you're right, I just can't take how he's treating Natsume as a tool." Narumi apologised.

"I know, but just ignore it and think of what's best for the academy."

"I can't take it, it's already been ten minutes think about what they could be doing to him."

"Natsume's going to be fine, he's sturdy. We have to worry about how we are going to win the next battle. Yoichi's probably just as good as Natsume when it comes to tactics so we should wake him before the next battle."

Narumi sighed, clearly more worried about Natsume, "Yeah."

"I'm worried about Natsume too, but it doesn't help him that we're worried. We can help the rest of the academy if we win this battle."

"I know you're right. And I'm sure that Natsume knows what to do and has tried this before, I just don't want him hurt any more than he has been."

"Me neither."

Narumi looked around his eyes landing on Yoichi, "How is he?"

Mikan looked in the direction Narumi pointed, "He's fine, he just needs to sleep. He isn't injured he just has a lot of bruises."

"That's good."

**With Natsume**

"Come on faster! We don't have all day."

Natsume whole body hurt with each step, making it painful to walk faster. He did it anyway though not wanting to get beat up further.

"We're almost there. It's just up ahead."

_Damn, this is bad it wasn't my plan to come all the way here. I guess there's no other way for me to escape. –Natsume thought._

They stepped into another clearing; the ESP sat on a chair in the middle with Persona by his side and with more henchmen behind him.

"Well well, good job you seem to have caught an annoying cat. Bring him here." The ESP commanded smiling. They tugged Natsume along until he was in front of the ESP.

"Kneel." The ESP commanded. As Natsume didn't do as he was told, they forced him onto his knees.

"I seem to have heard rumours about you having written a diary that is supposed to put me in jail." The ESP said.

"As always you hear your rumours from the right people." Natsume smiled. "Is that why you brought me here?"

The ESP lifted his finger as a signal to the one who held Natsume to hit him, and so he did. Natsume's sight flickered as he again got hit over the head.

"I guess that means it's true." The ESP said, "Then if I kill you no one will know if it's fake."

"Oh, I think they will."

The ESP stiffened a little, "Why?"

"Because it fits with my medical record."

"That's not enough. I can just change it."

"No you can't because I already had my medical record printed out and it's in the diary with a doctors signature. Plus on the pages of the diary there are occasional bloodstains. I'm sure they in some way can examine them and find out that are more than a couple of years old, don't you think? I also hid all the info from my missions, I think they will find them matching with police reports and various things."

The ESP looked furiously at Natsume and lifted his finger; once again the man who held Natsume hit him.

"So were is this diary of yours?" The ESP asked.

"I have no idea."

The ESP lifted his finger again and Natsume got hit.

"I'll ask you one last time before it's going to get really painful, were is the diary?"

"I don't know."

"Persona, if you will."

Persona went over to Natsume and put his black hand on his wrist. Pain shot through his wrist as a black mark appeared where his hand had been.

"Ow." Natsume winced and pulled his hands away from Persona.

The ESP sighed, "It's not enough, do some more."

As Natsume tried to pull away Persona said to the others, "Secure him!"

They tugged Natsume ropes so hard that he fell forward, arms stretched out before him. They held him down and made it so that Persona could get to his arms. Persona kneeled beside him and put his hands on Natsume's arms. Natsume squirmed and tried to get away, but with four men holding him down it was impossible. Pain raged through his arms as Sakurano's voice echoed through his head.

_Hold on Natsume, I'm sending help they'll be here relatively soon. _

_Natsume's thought were scattered because of the pain, but Sakurano managed to pick up the question - Who?_

_Hotaru and Ruka. Just hold on._

Sakurano's voice disappeared just as Persona lifted his hands and the pain dimmed. He was left with 3 black marks on his arms.

"Have you changed your mind Natsume?" The ESP asked 'nicely'.

"No."

"Persona, one more time before we move to something a little more painful."

Persona put his hands on Natsume's arms again, this time a little further up. Pain shot through him and the black marks spread, joining the other marks. Then after what seemed like forever Natsume felt Persona's hands leave his arms. Leaving an irritating dull pain in his arms.

"Have you changed your mind Natsume?"

Natsume glared at the ESP. "No."

"I guess I have no choice, Persona the pills."

Persona dug his hands into his pockets and pulled a pill bottle out.

"I'm sure you remember the ones I gave you to test." Persona said, "These are newly made and they should be even more painful than the last ones, which didn't seem to have much effect on you." Persona forced Natsume's head up and made him swallow.

The pain exploded inside of him, numbing all his senses. He had never tried anything that hurt so much it was excruciating. If he screamed, he didn't know it. The pain blocked everything else, allowing nothing to penetrate. Then finally it stopped, after what seemed like hours. Natsume gasped, trying to regain his composure.

_You're okay! It's okay. They'll be here soon just bear with it Natsume! – Sakurano said to Natsume._

His body shook and he blinked a few times to get everything into focus. Persona was standing over him checking if he was awake.

"He's awake." Persona told the ESP.

"Wow that hurt didn't it Natsume? If you tell me were that diary is and you won't have to get another one. Doesn't that sound good?"

"…I don't know …where the diary is." Natsume muttered, his voice shaking.

"That's too bad. Persona."

Persona walked over to Natsume and forced his head up again Natsume tried to clamp his mouth shut but it didn't work against Persona's iron grip. Persona forced Natsume to swallow and soon after pain hit him. This time Natsume had tried to be prepared for what was to come, but he soon realised that nothing could prepare him for the excruciating pain that now numbed his system. He couldn't even think of Mikan or anything, the only thing he could think about was the pain. A sense of hopelessness clouded his mind. And then just as quickly as it had come the pain disappeared. Natsume gasped and dug his hands into the grass, trying to stop them from shaking. He blinked away a few tears in his eyes before they could fall. His arms hurt, his stomach hurt, his whole body hurt. He didn't know if he could take any more.

_Natsume! It's gone you're fine. Ruka and Hotaru are hiding over in the side of the clearing discussing what to do. – Sakurano said trying to make Natsume relax. _

"Now Natsume were is the diary?"

"…" Natsume kept quiet, didn't want the next pill to come.

"Answer me!"

"I don't know…" Natsume whispered hoarsely.

"What was that?"

"…"

"Someone kick him or something I think he fell asleep or something."

The next thing Natsume knew someone kicked him square in the chest. The force of the kick made Natsume cough up blood. It all became too much, his eyesight flickered and went black as he lost consciousness.

"Who was the one who kicked him?" The ESP asked. A big man stepped forward grinning. "How the hell do you think I can interrogate an unconscious person? You big IDIOT! Drag Natsume over to the side, I'll get those answers out of him when he wakes up."

The big man went from looking happy to scared and hurried with dragging Natsume out to the side. He forgot to set guards to watch Natsume before he went back into the group. Luckily for Ruka and Hotaru they had dragged Natsume to a place just before the place they were hiding. Ruka crawled out and dragged Natsume back into the forest.

"We should use the teleportation Alice stone we got from Sakurano to get us to were Mikan is, she should be able to help him." Hotaru said to Ruka and activated the Alice stone.

**With Mikan**

"I don't like this no enemies in over 20 minutes and Natsume is still gone." Mikan said.

They'd been teaching some teachers how to shoot a gun, and in the meantime Yoichi was awake again.

"Maybe we should go after him?" Yoichi suggested eager to help Natsume.

"No, that's probably what the ESP wants, and I don't intend to give it to him." Mikan said.

"But what about Natsume? They're going to kill him, Mikan."

"I have complete faith in Natsume's ability to live through this."

"But there were so many of them!" Yoichi protested.

"I'm following Natsume's own advice. Just before they dragged him away he smiled and mouthed 'Stay here' to me. So I intend to stay here until he comes back or the army does."

_Ruka and Hotaru managed to free Natsume, they're teleporting here now. Mikan they could need your help, they're teleporting just outside the clearing so go there. – Sakurano told her._

_Where outside the clearing? – Mikan asked him._

_On your right, the clearing you, Narumi and Natsume were in an hour ago._

_Okay thanks._

"Come on Yoichi, we need to find Narumi."

"Why?"

"You'll see." Mikan said remembering that it was only her who heard the message.

They found Narumi in the other side of the clearing and then Mikan led the to of them into the other clearing.

"Why are we here?" Narumi asked.

"Wait a second."

They waited in silence until the air shimmered in front of them, and all of a sudden Hotaru, Ruka and Natsume were on the ground beside them. Natsume was still unconscious.

"Natsume!" Narumi and Yoichi yelped in surprise.

Mikan eyed Natsume he had clearly coughed up blood, and there were Persona's marks up his arms, also his shirt was dirty probably from kicks. She kneeled down beside him and began using her stealing Alice to remove Persona's marks from his arms.

"Thank you Ruka and Hotaru, I can't tell you how relieved I am to have him out of their hands." Narumi said.

"I was nothing, they practically gave him right to us. Though I wish we could have been there a little earlier." Ruka said looking down at his best friend. Mikan had removed all the marks, now they were just Alice stones in her hands. Ruka kneeled down and removed the rope from Natsume's wrists. The ropes had cut a little into Natsume's wrists and know they were stained with Natsume's blood.

"I think we came at the perfect timing, just before Natsume lost consciousness and they dragged him over to the side." Hotaru said bluntly.

"What did they want with him?" Narumi asked.

"They tortured him and the ESP asked him a question that sounded like 'where is the diary?' Does that make any sense?" Hotaru asked.

"Yes. Natsume's written a diary over the past 8 years, apparently uncle found enough evidence in it to imprison the ESP." Mikan told them, "That's the cause for this battle."

"I didn't know Natsume kept a diary." Ruka said surprised.

"I didn't know either until he gave it to uncle." Mikan said. She put the five Alice stones in her pocket.

Natsume opened his eyes slowly, looking up at Mikan.

"Hey." He muttered hoarsely.

"Hey." She smiled back at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay." He looked down at his arms, pleased to see Persona's marks gone.

"Did you tell them where the diary is?" She had to ask, if he had then they would have to go and get it before them.

Natsume shook his head, "No… I didn't tell them anything."

"Okay."

Natsume pushed himself up in sitting position, his chest and stomach hurt from being kicked so many times. He put his hand over his stomach trying to soothe the pain. He looked up at Ruka and Hotaru.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Sorry we didn't come earlier." Ruka said.

"Earlier…" The arm holding Natsume up gave in and Natsume fell down on his back again. He held his wrist over his face, gazing up at the wound. His mind getting lost in memories of what had just happened. Shaking as he remembered the pain. In his mind he was back at the ESP's.

"Natsume?" Mikan asked but he made no reaction.

"Natsume."

"Natsume!" She touched his arm. Panic raised in Natsume thinking it was Persona again, his arm jerked away from her and he started shaking even more. He turned his head over to look at her, his scared eyes softened as he saw it was Mikan.

"Sorry." He whispered his voice shaking. He covered his face with his arm, his shaking soon stopped and his breathing evened as he fell asleep.

"Gods, what did they do to him." Narumi asked shocked, he had never seen Natsume act like that. He was always so tough.

"I don't know, but we heard him screaming." Hotaru said.

"Natsume was screaming…?" Mikan choked, she had never heard Natsume scream.

"Yeah."

They all thought the same: Natsume would only scream if it was extremely painful.

"I shouldn't have touched his arm. He probably thought it was Persona again." Mikan said.

They all sat in silence for a couple of minutes, each in their own thoughts.

Finally Mikan broke the silence. "I'll watch over Natsume, the rest of you can go ready the teachers. I bet the ESP's troops will be here soon, they were probably furious when they realised that Natsume was gone."

"Yeah you're right. Let's go." Narumi said.

They all lest the clearing leaving Mikan alone with Natsume. Mikan moved Natsume's arm down from his face and laid down beside him. She was gazing up in the shy thinking of what to do as Natsume started whimpering beside her. She looked at him; he was frowning clearly having a nightmare. Mikan stroke his cheek to wake him. He opened his cloudy eyes and looked at her, clearly frightened.

She wrapped her arms around him. "Shh… It's okay I'm here."

"Mikan…?" Natsume whispered.

"Yes. Go back to sleep Natsume."

"I… I can't." He whispered.

"Yes you can, I'll stay here with you. Just relax, take deep breathes and go back to sleep."

Little after little Natsume's breath evened out and he fell asleep again in Mikan's arms.

"Natsume. Wake up, they'll be here soon." Mikan shook Natsume's shoulder rousing him from his sleep.

"How long have I slept?" Natsume asked tiredly.

"About 20 minutes, we can't afford anymore they need to see that you're back. It'll lift their spirits.

"Yeah, let's go." Natsume stood up, he gritted his teeth as his chest and stomach hurt. Mikan saw it and walked over to him. She pulled up his shirt revealing a lot of bruises on his chest. She caressed his chest for a while until Natsume grabbed her hand lightly and brought it up to his mouth. He kissed her hand as he looked deeply into her chocolaty brown eyes. They both smiled and then walked hand in hand towards the other clearing.

As they stepped into the clearing the teachers all turned around to look at them as they stepped into the clearing. The crowd was silent for a second before they started shouting things like: Natsume! What did they do to you? Or how did you get free?

At last Narumi shut them up, saying they had better things to do. After that they shut up and scattered, Narumi walked towards Mikan and Natsume.

"Hey." He greeted them.

Mikan smiled at him. "Hey."

Natsume looked away from Narumi and over towards the other teachers.

Narumi eyed him curiously, "Natsume? Are you okay?"

Narumi's voice snapped Natsume right out of his thoughts. "What? …Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Thank goodness, I was worried about you." Narumi looked down at Natsume's wrists. A little blood was running down from the cut wounds and into his palm. Narumi took a roll of bandage up from his pocket, "here. Give me your hand."

Natsume looked weirdly at him, wondering what he was talking about when he realised that he was bleeding. He stretched his hands out towards Narumi, and waited as he wrapped bandage around them.

"There." Narumi said and put the knot on the bandage. "Do you have a plan for the next fight?"

Natsume lowered his hands and looked over at the teachers again. "No. Take them head on. We're more than they are, we can win."

Satisfied Narumi walked away from them and went over to the others. Hotaru, Ruka and Yoichi came over to then and they sat down in the grass. Natsume sat quietly and listened to the others talk.

"How have you been since we left the academy?" Mikan asked them.

"We've been fine. Persona wasn't in the academy after he learned that you to escaped, was he out hunting you guys?" Hotaru asked.

"Yeah, he found us at Natsume's home, but we were able to get away thanks to Natsume."

"Why did you come back you should've just stayed where you were." Ruka said.

"Persona kidnapped my grandpa, and held him captive in the academy. We had to come and rescue him."

"So you got to meet your grandfather?" Hotaru asked.

"Yes I did."

Their conversation stopped as a rabbit ran out of the forest and into Ruka's arms.

Ruka looked surprised at the rabbit, "what's wrong?" He asked it.

The rabbit began squeaking and making sounds that only Ruka understood.

"He says that the forest fire has spread and it's coming this way. We may only have half an hour before I comes to this clearing." Ruka translated, after that the rabbit ran of again.

"Let's hope this battle is won before the half hour ends." Natsume then said.

"_They are coming. Everyone of them." – Sakurano said inside their heads._


	10. The tears

10 minutes later they heard noises coming from the forest. Enemies ran towards them after stopping seconds to orientate themselves. Alice's threw through the air and hit either side. The teachers who still had small bombs used them, Natsume helped out where he could.

"Natsume!" Narumi voice rang through the field. "We need you here!"

Natsume ran in the direction of Narumi's voice and discovered that Persona had come to the battle and was terrorising the left side of their army.

"Can you hold him off?" Narumi asked Natsume.

"I'll help you." Yoichi ran up to them.

"Okay, Yoichi let's drive him away from the teachers and into the forest."

"But, won't that mean that he has the upper hand? He's better in the forest." Yoichi asked worriedly, shouting over the noise.

"If we don't drive him away from the teachers he'll just hurt them! Besides we're 2 against him! Come on!" Natsume shouted back at him and ran over towards Persona. Persona was using his Alice on a teacher when Natsume attacked him. Natsume kept attacking him, giving no time for Persona to switch from defence to offence. Persona backed away into the forest, being pushed back by Natsume. Yoichi followed closely behind.

When they were long enough away from the others Natsume pulled back panting from exhaustion. Yoichi started using his Alice to drain Persona's negative energy.

"How did you escape?" Persona asked Natsume.

"I had help… Ruka and Hotaru came. Didn't think about that did you?" Natsume smirked at him and charged him again. They exchanged a few blows.

"Why don't you use your Alice Natsume? Afraid of dying?" Persona mocked and activated his Alice.

"It's not that I'm afraid of it I just don't want to die. Did you expect that I would just use my Alice and die, then your job would be finished?"

"Not really but you can always hope."

Persona stormed towards them, this time Yoichi attacked him as well. They managed to wound him and push him back again without getting hurt themselves. Persona glared angrily at them and held his arm. This time Yoichi used his Alice on Persona, the negative energy pushed Persona backwards and into a tree. The force of the blow knocked Persona unconscious so they hurried and tied him to a tree with an Alice prevention rope. Tying it tightly hoping that he wouldn't break loose.

Natsume looked down on his watch and saw that they had already used 20 minutes. "We're using too much time. The fire will spread to here before we can get to the ESP. Do you have an idea?" Natsume asked Yoichi.

"Can I scare some of them away with ghosts?"

"Sure go ahead and try. Just try not to scare any of the teachers away."

Natsume and Yoichi ran back towards the field and saw that they had managed to cut their army in half. The ESP was standing somewhere in the back, not coming forward and letting his men die for him. Yoichi used his Alice and managed to scare about ten people from their forces. Natsume ran over and helped Narumi who was surrounded by five men. He knocked 4 of them unconscious and them ran over to help some others. He soon ran into Mikan who was helping some teachers by nullifying their opponents Alice's'.

"Hey, do you need some help?" Natsume shouted over the noise.

"Yeah. Go help them I'll cover you from Alice attacks!" Mikan pointed at the group she already was protecting, they were outnumbered. Natsume ran in and took care of half of the enemies; he let the others take care of the rest.

Natsume looked over the battlefield. Ruka was commanding some bears fight; Hotaru was shooting people with her idiot-gun. The middle was having some problems with a pain Alice user, they couldn't get near him because of the pain. Natsume jumped up into a tree and took his gun out of his pocket; he had kept it from earlier this day. He took aim at the man and shot him in the shoulder, it was just the break they needed to get close to him.

Once again Natsume checked for the ESP. Luckily he was still standing there in the back of the clearing in a circle of guards. Natsume climbed higher up into the tree wanting to see how far the fire was. It was close; maybe they had about five minutes if they were lucky.

_Damn I have to get the ESP now, or else this place will soon be a sea of fire. – Natsume thought._

He jumped down from the tree and ran into the forest. His plan was to capture the ESP from behind. He ran until he could see the ESP's guards from behind some bushes.

_The ESP really isn't very clever. I guess I can use a little of my Alice for this one. – Natsume thought._

Natsume used his Alice and made a little explosion right beside the ESP. His guards exclaimed and jumped to the side just as Natsume jumped into the circle and grabbed the ESP. The guards tried to fight back but they were overrun, the noise was making the other henchmen turn around and shout. Soon everyone's eyes were on Natsume.

_Shit! Maybe this wasn't so smart after all! – Natsume thought._

The other henchmen began running towards him. Natsume grabbed the ESP's arm and led him back into the forest. Before he could take more than a few steps Ruka appeared beside him.

"Ruka!" Natsume exclaimed shocked.

"Natsume, you know that was a really stupid thing you just did right?"

"Of course, let's teleport."

"The thing is I just used the last of the stone to get here." Ruka said.

"Seriously?"

"No. I just wanted to demonstrate how stupid it was to come here by yourself without a way out. Let's teleport." Ruka said and took Natsume's hand. They teleported to the other side if the clearing with the ESP. Not a moment too soon because the fire had already spread to the edge of the clearing. Natsume and Ruka tied the ESP's hands tightly with Alice prevention ropes. And let some teachers guard him. The ESP's henchmen had fled the sight when the ESP had been captured and they saw the fire.

"Ruka how much power is there left in the stone?" Natsume asked him.

"I think there is enough to get a couple of people out of here but not nearly enough for the whole group."

"Take the ESP Hotaru and a teacher out to Sakurano and tell him to come and pick us up. I can't get in touch with him; maybe he used too much power. I'll hold of the fire as long as I can."

"But Natsume-"

"Just go, hurry."

Ruka looked at Natsume and them went over to the ESP with Hotaru and some other teacher.

"Don't die Natsume, I won't forgive you if you do." Ruka said just before he teleported.

Natsume smiled back at him, "If only you remember to get help."

Narumi came over to him. "What are we going to do? The fire."

"Ruka's telling Sakurano to come and pick us up, I'll hold of the fire off until he gets here." Natsume coughed into his sleeve, leaving a bloodstain on the black fabric.

"But Natsume you're not well enough to hold off the flames." Narumi protested.

"Do you want to let everyone here get roasted?" Natsume asked him, "If there is someone here who can hold off the flames then I'll gladly let them do it. But as it so happens there isn't. I'm the only one who can do it, so either you let me or we all die. What's it going to be?"

"…Okay."

"Good now get them to gather into the smallest group they can so I don't have to protect such a large area." Natsume ordered and muffled a few more coughs. Mikan hurried to his side.

When the teachers had gathered Mikan and Natsume sat down beside them. The fire was all around them but stopped at an invisible border Natsume had made with his Alice. He absorbed all the flames that came close to them. He was getting paler by the minute.

After a couple of minutes Sakurano teleported into the circle.

"Sorry it took so long, my powers were completely used. Natsume, can you hold out a little longer? I can only take 10 people with at a time."

"Yeah… Just hurry up and go…" Natsume panted resting his head in his hands.

Sakurano grabbed ten people and teleported them out of the fire. Immediately they moved closer to each other trying to help Natsume as much as possible. The border shifted and became smaller.

Natsume started coughing, not stopping until his hand was spotted with blood. For a second the barrier fell as Natsume almost passed out, but then he restored it.

"Natsume you should take your pills." Mikan said worriedly, staring at Natsume.

Natsume slowly shook his head, "I… don't have anymore…"

Sakurano came back and took 10 more. The only ones who were left were Natsume, Mikan, Narumi, Jinno and Yoichi. They all moved closer to Natsume to help him.

Natsume coughed up a little more blood and the barrier that had failed a couple of times already, failed again.

"Natsume!" They yelled as fire suddenly glazed around them. After they said it the barrier restored itself.

"Sorry…" Natsume muttered out of breath.

At last when Natsume was on the verge of collapsing, Sakurano came and teleported them out of the fire. The air shimmered around them as they teleported towards safety.

Most of the teachers had run out to help the other kids, but there were a few who stayed to see if the rest were okay. The ESP was there too, some of the teachers held him down. They had removed the rope around his wrists because they didn't think it was necessary. It was already night, they'd used most of the day fighting the ESP. The only light that shone was from the forest fire. The students had managed to get the upper hand in the fight and they had driven the ESP's followers to the rear end of the academy. News of the ESP's capture soon spread through the academy and both students and staff started to cheer. The henchmen realised that the battle was lost and they gave up. Some tried to escape but they were easily subdued.

Natsume laid on his back gazing tiredly with half-closed eyes up into the dark sky. Even though he was exhausted Natsume fought sleep knowing that if he fell asleep he wouldn't wake up again. He breathed heavily as if the air helped him minimize the pain that formed in his chest.

"Yes hello, I would like an ambulance to come quickly to the west edge of the Northern forest." Narumi said, speaking into his cell phone. "Thank you."

"Are they coming?" Mikan asked worriedly.

Narumi looked troubled, "They'll come as quickly as they can but there are many wounded people and maybe it isn't so easy to come here because of the wreckage."

Mikan caressed Natsume's cheek. The touch made him look up into those chocolaty brown eyes of hers. Tears were running down her cheek without her noticing it.

"…Hey." Natsume whispered to her and reached up with a shaking hand to wipe the tears off of her face.

Mikan grabbed his hand and held it towards her cheek. "Hey."

Everything happened so fast. The ESP stared angrily at Natsume the one at fault for his capture seemed to live. The anger giving him strength he tore himself from the 2 teachers grip and ran over towards Natsume and Mikan gun in hand.

"This is your fault you bastard!" The ESP screamed as he neared Natsume.

Narumi woke from his daze and tried to stop the ESP. He wasn't quick enough. A shot was heard just a second before Narumi ran into the ESP, knocking them both down. "Natsume!"

Narumi held the ESP down until the other teachers could come and secure him, then Narumi ran over to Natsume and Mikan.

Narumi was hoping with every ounce of himself that Natsume wasn't hit. A hope that was destroyed as Narumi kneeled beside them. Natsume was if possible even paler than before. He had been shot in the shoulder, and he was already loosing blood.

"Shit!" Narumi cursed and took his shirt off; he pressed it against the wound trying to stop the bleeding. Natsume groaned weakly as the pressure was placed on his shoulder.

"N-Natsume…" Mikan stuttered scared as she stared at Natsume, cold sweat was running down the side of his face and he shook feverishly. "No… Natsume don't give up… You're going to be fine… You hear me? You're going to be fine…"

Natsume grimaced in pain as another coughing fit tore through his body. Natsume tried desperately to hold onto his life, but as much as he fought he couldn't keep it away. Realising this he felt tears run slowly down his cheeks, he cried… For the first time since he came to the academy. He cried because he knew that he and Mikan couldn't be together. Tears streamed down his face as he felt his strength leave him. At least he wanted to tell her for the last time, he gathered his remaining strength.

"…I love you." He whispered faintly.

"I love you too." Mikan sobbed.

Natsume slowly closed his eyes surrendering to darkness.

"N-Natsume?" Mikan stuttered, "Open your eyes… Open your eyes… Look at me! Please… Natsume! Look at me!" She shook his body trying to wake him up.

"No. No. No. Natsume!" Narumi said desperately and started doing CPR, "I won't let you!"

The ambulance came, and the doctors rushed out and shoved Narumi aside.

"Clear!" The doctor said and gave Natsume an electric shock. His body jerked but there was still no pulse. A few more times after the doctor had to give up, he shook his head at them. There was nothing he could do…

"No! You have to do something! Please!" Mikan shouted hysterically and cried. Narumi took her in his arms. Rain poured down from the sky.

"NATSUME!"


	11. The news

The phone fell from Mr Hyuuga's hand as he broke down crying. Aoi tried to find out what was wrong.

"He's not coming back." He sobbed, "He's not ever coming back."

He held Aoi close as tears began pouring down her cheeks.


	12. The judging

**2 Months later.**

"With the evidence of this diary, medical record, police reports and mission information's paper from the now deceased Natsume Hyuuga. And the many eyewitnesses I hereby condemn you the former Elementary school Principle in the Alice Academy, a lifetime in prison, for murder, abuse and fraud." The judge said, and hits the table twice with his hammer.


End file.
